Bree Dies
by Demiser of D
Summary: Bree dies, and finds herself with the ability to change her past so she never became a vampire. But can she abandon the vampires that were the first people to show her kindness?
1. Prelude: Monster

_I was too late. After all that I had done, nothing had been able to stop it, after all..._

_Quietly, I opened my eyes to absolute darkness. Darkness that was neverending. And that was when I realized the truth; I was dead._

Inside my mind, I screamed.

**Chapter 1: Monster**

_

* * *

_

2 weeks earlier, and a few steps to the side...

* * *

The monster had been in control for so long, I could barely remember who I was any more. Ever since that one dark night...I shook my head, clearing the emotions from my mind. I couldn't have anything, not even the merest speck of negative emotion, or the monster would rear its head once again...

Almost instantly, like everything she did these days, I flitted over to the mirror in my small room, and stared with horror at my impassive face, framing the terrible red eyes that were the monster's...The tiniest frown appeared on my lips, all I could show of the terrible pain I felt within.

Suddenly, from the other side of her door, a voice called, ringing as clear as a bell; "Are you awake?" A sarcastic laugh followed. He knew I couldn't sleep any more. "Anyway, wanna go hunt? You love it so much..." A cruel smile appeared in his voice.

A wide grin on her face, and the monster fully in control once again, Bree opened the door and smiled up into Riley's face.

Later that night, back in her room once again, Bree took control of her body once again. As she silently walked over to her bed, never used except for Riley's 'visits' now, she felt the strange sloshing sensation that filled her body, a sensation which would have made her sick, could she still get sick in this strange, cold body... Quietly, she lay herself down on her bed, still mussed from Riley's last visit, and began to shudder her tearless sobs, the only emotion she could express without arousing the monster.

_I wish...i wish I could sleep_, she thought

_Just a small reprieve from this terrible existence..._

Silently, she rocked herself back into the numbness that was her new normal state of existence.

* * *

I was aroused my trance-like state by Riley, who arrogantly pushed into my room. Looking up at him, I silently and gracefully rose to my feet. For a moment, I recalled what I would be feeling if I were still human; my legs would be wobbling, my stomach would be twisting with fear, I might have had to lean against the wall to prevent myself from trembling...

_A trembling vampire, that's a good one_, I thought for a flash, before Riley stepped next to me, and brusquely dragged my lips to his.

In a flash, the monster was in control again, meeting his lips with passion, while within Bree fought...but not too hard. She had seen what had happened to other girls that had turned down Riley's advances.

Inside, I shook with terror.

But outside, I showed no sign of my inner turmoil, only noticing, once again, the taste of another girl on his lips, another vampire, one I had never smelled or tasted anywhere other than that same place.

I wasn't foolish enough to ask about that, either.

Smiling, he dragged her towards the bed, not bothering to close the door behind him.

* * *

It was several days before he returned to the building where she and the rest of the newborns were living. While he was gone, she had attempted to further her control, observing the results of the lack of control displayed by the other vampires...there had been 23 of them originally, but over only the last few days their unstoppable tempers had reduced that number down to 18.

So far, she had only really managed to befriend one of them, the one called Sara. And only a very loose definition of friendship, too; she had saved Sara from being killed once, and Sara had returned the favor. No one wanted to challenge the two of them together, so they had maintained their alliance. However, Sara felt none of the disgust with herself that Bree did, she was perfectly happy in her new, strong body. She had always been the underdog, it seemed, and was glad of the opportunity to pay back past offenses...One of the girls that had been the ringleader in picking on her was currently residing in the city morgue...

Again, Bree shook her head, cleaning it of disgust. That was one advantage of being a vampire, she was very easily distracted. She focused instead on a sweet smell she detected wafting through the door. What could it be? It smelled like...freesia?

Suddenly, Riley came walking through the door, his characteristic smug grin on his face, as if he knew something the others didn't; In his left hand was a red piece of cloth; A blouse? For a moment, she felt remorse at the fate of the girl he had taken it from. She had no doubt as to what the outcome of that confrontation had been.

Quietly, knowing everyone would hear him, Riley spoke:

"Everyone. Come to the Lobby. Now."

There was no hesitation; within seconds, everyone had filed into the room, punctuated with hisses and growls when people stepped too close to one another. Then, once again, there was dead silence, and Riley spoke. "To the south of here, there is a Coven of vampires controlling a town named Forks. They have the town all to themselves; it is isolated, only a few thousand humans! Imagine the possibilities!"

Of course, we already were. I could smell the venom pooling in the mouths of all those around me. A small, isolated town meant we could feed multiple times a day without having to worry about discovery. And when the town was depleted of humans, we could move along, never worrying about discovery.

Why we worried about discovery at all was a constant amusement to us; who could hurt us if they knew? But Riley ordered us to remain hidden, so hide we did.

"The only thing that stands in your way is this coven of vampires; You will be able to tell who they are by their eyes, which are a strange golden color. Also, they they are guarding a Human!" With that, he waved the blouse towards us, sending its sweet, sweet smell wafting over us, a sweeter smell than any of us had ever smelled. Instantly, the monsters in all of us were in control, staring ravenously at the blouse. Inside, somehow I felt the tiniest amusement at what we would look like to an outsider; 20 perfect statues, focused entirely on a piece of fabric. The thought of what would happen to any humans trespassing here quickly dispelled any humor, however.

'Forks' is to the east. You will smell the vampires when you near the town; kill them, and the town is yours! And one more thing..." He smiled evilly, glaring around at us, staring into our bestial eyes, "Whoever gets to the girl first, can have her! She sure is sweet; maybe I'll get her for myself!" The rest of us growled possessively, looking at Riley, for the first time, as a threat. Then, he relaxed from his pose and stood, smiling at our territorial grimaces. "I'll meet you as you near the town; I have some other business to attend to." This was no surprise; Riley always had "other business" to attend to. Generally when he returned, the taste of the strange female was on his lips...

"Now, GO! This will be EASY! Kill the Vampires, Drain the Girl, GO!"

That was all it took. Like a bomb going off, the 18 incredibly powerful vampires streaked away, not bothering to go through the door, but rather running straight through windows, doors, and walls in their hurry to be the first to get to the sweet smelling female.

* * *

Behind, Riley stood, laughing as he watched the army he had helped create run off to its doom, or possibly, if they were incredibly lucky, victory. His laughter rang forth again as he remembered the looks on their faces as they had stared hungrily...at a blouse. Suddenly, his laughter was joined by another voice, high and girlish. Still smiling, he turned to face Victoria, bowing slightly as she came near. "Did I do ok, Victoria?" He asked, his voice almost boyish compared to the earlier commanding tone he had projected. "Very well, Riley...very well indeed" Silently, she wafted forwards, placing a feathery kiss on his chin, then running kisses up and down his jaw. Moments later, she spoke, barely a whisper "I believe I spoke of a reward, hmmm?" Riley's pensive smile widened and she pulled him deeper into the building, to find a bed somewhere in the now abandoned complex.


	2. Prelude: Battle

_Just so you know, the update speed on this is going to vary between several chapters a night, to one every month or 2. I am a lazy person, and I'm really stuck playing Star Sonata, so don't feel too expectant. Also, this is still largely the intro to my story; The first 5-6 chapters will be the "Intro" to the real story; They will be 2 slightly different retellings of the events at the end of eclipse from Bree's POV. And the fact that she's a new vampire isn't going to help anything. Trust me, it will get better as the story gets on. Now, back to the story!_

_...That was all it took. Like a bomb going off, the 20 incredibly powerful vampires streaked away, not bothering to go through the door, but rather running straight through windows, doors, and walls in their hurry to be the first to get to the sweet smelling female..._

By the time they hit the scent of the vampires, they had calmed down enough to realize that if they were fighting against each other, there was no way they could defeat even 6 united vampires. With that knowledge, they united again, not without a few hissed complaints on the proximity of their fellow vampires. Suddenly, she heard a louder hiss than before, and she twisted around until she was running backwards, just in time to see Sara dive towards another girl, one whose name she didn't know. She was just getting towards going back to help sara when they hit the scent. It hit them like a ton of bricks; The girls scent, along here! She had been walking this way, within the last day or so! All thoughts of Sara forgotten, Bree accelerated even faster, attempting to keep up with the other vampires, still trying to maintain her tiniest bit of control.

That was when they hit the blood.

Somewhere around here, the girl had been bleeding! And the smell was infinitely more potent in its free form. At that point, none of them were exactly thinking; all they wanted was to get to the girl first and be the one to taste that sweet, sweet blood. Going even faster, that finally caught the scent of the other vampires, standing about a half mile ahead, in a large clearing. Running on pure instinct, the vampire army split down the middle, half going to the left, half to the right, in a classic pincer formation. Bree chose the right path, bearing down on the vampires with incredible speed.

What happened next was impossible to describe fully; She was fighting a battle inside at the same time she fought her battle outside. Her monstrous self was hissing and growling as it attempted to get near to the vampires, but before anyone knew what was happening, 3 of their side were down, cut into pieces before their very eyes. She had no idea how it had happened. The rest of the battle passed in varying flashes of supreme clarity and blurry darkness of her internal battle.

She was fighting the monster with all her will; _Did she have the right to take the poor girls life?_ she thought. The Monster in her answered with a resounding _YES!_ But the Human answered with a quieter, but still powerful _NO!_

Then she was dancing with a tiny female, but every time she darted in to attack, she seemed to simply melt away, ahead of her every move.

She was remembering her human life, what things had been like before...And using that against the monster. Her friends, her parents, even her enemies. All of those memories were fodder in her struggle against the monster.

She saw with horror as another of their number was ripped to pieces, and in her rage, she darted forward fast, so fast, that she even managed to get her teeth onto the arm of the blond male; The one that was doing most of the damage. For the tiniest part of a second, the monster rejoiced at victory, but then, almost faster than even her enhanced senses could detect, the arm was gone, and with what sounded like an explosion, she was sent flying across the meadow.

She slammed into a tree with the force of a cannon, sending a shower of pine needles cascading down upon her...behind her, the damaged tree slowly fell back into the woods with a resounding crash. But that was barely heard by her now, because he new location had provided her with a new vantage point on the battle. Or ex battle. Scattered across the meadow were the torn remains of the army that had seemed so invincible; She was the only one left. Stunned, the monster actually went quiet for a moment. _Where's the other half of us!? _ She thought, as the 6 terrifying vampires closed in around her. From the trees at the far side of the meadow, she could finally hear something, something that chilled her to her bones; The metallic screeching that she now associated with the death of one of her former comrades. Of that, she wasn't too concerned; They had always been nothing but beasts to her, not bothering to even control their basest instincts. But what truly scared her were the other noises she heard; Dozens of heavy heart beats; faint furious growling; and finally, a muted, victorious howl. _Riley never told us about this..._ she thought, as she looked desperately at the vampires that were now encircling her warily. Quietly, she prepared to die.

But then, at the last moment, salvation came from the most unexpected corner; An older blonde male raised his hands in a gesture she understood to be peace, and spoke to her, the first words she had heard these vampires speak: "You do not have to feed off of humans to survive. If you surrender, we will show you how...it can be done." He paused for a moment, and as it looked like he was about to speak again, he was interrupted by the scarred blonde male, who was looking at him like he was insane. "Carlisle, are you mad? She's a newborn! Scarcely a month old! There's no way she can control her instincts! I'm a thousand times her age and you know that I still have trouble!" But the older male, _Carlisle_, she thought, merely shook his head, and turned towards her again. "What do you choose, little one?"

For a moment, she was incredulous; Did they expect her to choose death? But COULD she choose to surrender? If the monster had been in control, she would have thrown herself at their throats already. But the monster was subdued, strangely quiet in this strange situation. Finally, she spoke the first words of a new life..."I...I...Surrender!" Feeling as mentally weary as she would feel physically weary were she still a human, she fell to her knees, exhausted by her almost unending battle with the monster. Above her, with scarcely a look at Carlisle, the blonde took a defensive posture over her. She was merely glad to be alive.

Half an hour later, she still didn't know what was going on. Merely moments after she had uttered those fateful words, the tiny blackhaired female, _Alice_, she knew now, had almost fallen over, clutching her head. After that, a frenzied collection took place, gathering all the severed parts of her former group, pushing them into a fire that was burning away with a sickening smell of incense. She had been so focused on the fact that she was still alive that she had almost missed the conversation that had taken place; something about something called a "Volturi", when they would arrive, and where. She was slightly confused about how they could know so accurately, but she didn't ask the questions on her tongue. Perhaps, if she didn't know too much about them, they would let her go, she reasoned. What should do once she was free she didn't think about.

She was still focused inwardly when suddenly the smell hit her; _THE GIRL _the monster screamed inside of her, and instantly the monster returned; not at full force, but regaining strength. With all her will, Bree threw herself back into battle with it.

Outside, she toppled over, and let out a bestial growl; the blonde guarded her carefully, watching her every move.

Before, she had been enraptured in her inner turmoil, trying to understand what these strange golden eyed vampires could be. _Don't have to feed on humans? Is it possible? _She had thought, hoping maybe for a freedom for the life of blood and death she had already grown so weary of. And the strange silence of the Monster had actually given her some hope. _Maybe it IS possible!_ She had thought. All those hopes were dashed the instant the girl neared the clearing; As soon as the smell of her beating blood hit her brain, the monster had reared its head once again, throwing her into frenzied battle once again. She could barely hear what was going on; everything in her was focused on the girl, staring up into her eyes. She was beautiful; She realized, faintly in the corner of her mind. But what stunned her even more was that she was holding onto a tall Adonis like _Vampire!_

At first she couldn't understand it. It was impossible! How could he possibly stand her irrisistable scent, her heartbeat, the warm flush of BLOOD beneath her skin!? How was it possible!? Thinking of that blood, she almost gave in to the monster...she let out a small groan of pain at her irresistible scent.


	3. Prelude: Bree Dies

Bree was more terrified than even during the battle, now. Before, she had at least had the thrill of the fight to keep her mind off of things; After that, when the girl had entered the meadow, she had been too focused on keeping the monster inside her in check to focus on anything else; It had taken all of her being to keep from attacking. But now, she had more room to think...

The first thing she had noticed as wrong was when the blonde vampire, who had been watching her movements like a beautiful, deadly hawk, suddenly slightly relaxed his stance and flitted to the other end of the meadow, as only a vampire could. At the same time, the girl and the vampires she had been hiding behind moved off slightly, and the wind suddenly shifted to behind her, blowing the girls scent away, and clearing her thoughts just enough to be terrified. Carefully, she sat up, and looked at the vampires curiously; They were all staring at a single point in the smoke...i shook my head to keep from thinking about what that smoke pertained. That was just what the monster needed to take control again...again, I focused on where they were all looking, deep in the swirling smoke. And then she saw them. Four more vampires, moving slowly, in comparison to their normal speed, almost a perfect human charade...but with a grace that no human could hope to compare to. She looked in quick succession at the four...three men and a girl, she saw. The girl was leading by a slight margin, wearing the darkest cloak. _ I wonder who the leader is_, I wondered to myself.

Anxiously, I watched as the girls eyes skimmed quickly over 9 of us. They lingered for a moment on me, but it seemed as if she didn't even care that I was here. Then, her eyes moved on, and I saw something that actually slightly broke through her façade of calm. It seemed that she had caught sight of the human girl...suddenly, the name Bella came to mind. My strange brain must have caught it at some point while I was concerned with more important things inside. The girl's eyes widened for just a millisecond, then returned to their prior state so fast that even I, the vampire, wondered if I had imagined it. Then, the four wafted closer, and paused, 10 yards or so from the other vampires. For a half second (a long pause for a vampire), all was quiet, and then, finally, the smallest one spoke;

"Hmm..." Her voice shocked me; It sounded dead, uncaring. The last thing I expected from a vampire, despite our undead status. All other vampires I had ever heard had sounded like music when they spoke. But before I could delve too deeply into reverie, one of the 6 vampires spoke;

"Welcome, Jane."

For another moment, silence reigned, as the one in the lead again ran her eyes over us, finally focusing on me.

"I Don't understand.", she said, her voice seemed just as dead as before.

The one of the six responded again;

"She has surrendered." Jane's eyes flashed to the speakers eyes, the tiniest hint of some emotion visible...surprise? Anger? It was impossible to tell.

"Surrendered?"

"Carlisle gave her the option."

"There are no options for those who break the rules." All traces of emotion were again gone.

Carlisle then spoke for the first time; "That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."

Taught? Taught? What did he mean, taught? I had been taught a lot, I thought, with just a touch of anger. How to dispose of the bodies without overly revealing our presence...How to feed quietly...as I thought about It, I realized that he was right. Beyond the most basic of things, we never _had_ been taught. I wondered what he meant by that. But then, Jane spoke again;

"That is irrelevant," she insisted. Irrelevant? What were these people here for, anyway? And what did she mean by 'rules'? Was that what Carlisle had meant when he had said I had not been taught? And if there were rules for vampires...what would the consequences for breaking those rules be? I began to tremble inside, just a tiny little bit. Was this not over even now?

Carlisle answered her statement; "As you wish..."

Jane merely looked at him in consternation for a moment. Apparently, she had been expecting more resistance from him. Shaking herself fractionally, she composed her features, and apparently changed the subject.

"Aro hoped we would get far enough west to see you, Carlisle. He sends his regards."

Carlisle nodded. "I would appreciate it if you would convey mine to him."

Who was Aro? I shook my head a little. I was so easily distracted now. Luckily, something else equally distracting showed up to redirect my attention to the here and now; Jane smiled. I was stunned at the transformation that took place on her face...before, it had been stationary as stone, with hardly any more emotional attachment than stone could provide. But suddenly, with the smile, her face lit up in youthful happiness, almost too lovely when compared to her commanding tone and dead voice.

"Of course," she smiled. "It appears you've done our work for us today...for the most part." Her eyes settled on me again, sending a shiver up my spine. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."

"Eighteen, including this one," Carlisle answered.

Jane's eyes widened again, and she looked into the smoke again, at the burning pile of my former allies. She seemed surprised at the number, almost unsure.

"Eighteen?" Yes, her voice confirmed it; She was just a trifle unsure at the destruction that lay in front of her. Behind her, 2 of the others exchanged a long glance, apparently also unsure of what they were up against. I only recognized the feelings because they were exactly what I had been feeling since the moment I had surrendered.

"All brand new," Carlisle said dismissively. "They were unskilled."

"All?" Her voice suddenly sharpened like bayonet. "Then who was their creator?"

Suddenly, I was terrified, truly terrified. In all the mayhem, I had completely forgotten that riley and his mysterious patron were out there somewhere. I knew without doubt that if they ever learned of my failure, they would not rest until I was dead. More dead that I already was, even. But even as I thought this, the original speaker spoke again.

"Her name was Victoria." Victoria...Victoria...wait, _Was?_

Jane repeated my inner question. "Was?"

He inclined his head to the east, and for a moment, I glanced in the direction. Was that...smoke? What did smoke have to do with...oh. Oh. OH! That meant...Victoria, the strange creator of all of us, was dead? What about Riley? Was he dead too? I focused my eyes desperately on the Adonis like face, pleading for some confirmation of my desires. As if he knew what I was thinking, he glanced at me for a tenth of a second, meeting my eyes, before looking back at Jane as she spoke.

"This Victoria --- she was in addition to the eighteen here?"

"Yes." He glanced at me for another tenth of a second, and then added flawlessly, "She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older than a year."

I almost cried with happiness. I'm sure I would have cried if my cold body still could, actually...Riley was dead! I thought of all the times he had taken advantage of the monster inside me to do things I had never done before to me, and I looked at the bronze haired one with fervent gratitude. I didn't care what the rest of them intended to do to me, I would not oppose this one in anything he did. He had shown me kindness in the depth of my fear...

Jane continued quietly..."Twenty...Who dealt with the creator?"

"I did", the bronze one told her.

Jane's eyes narrowed a fraction, and she turned towards me. But I wasn't concerned with that, because at that moment, the wind turned as well, bringing the smell of the girl to my nose, and bringing the monster back up in full force. I began to battle with it again, and only barely heard Jane speaking to me...i had only the will to glare balefully up at her as I tried to save Bella, this girl I didn't know. I Pursed my lips together, trying harder...but I couldn't resist. It was too much. For a millionth of a second, the monster had complete control...but then I saw something strange. Jane smiled angelically. And Then I was in pain. Unbearable pain. Pain nigh on as bad as the pain I experience when I first became a vampire. But that was not the strange part; The strange part was that I felt none of it.

Because the monster had gained complete control of my body moments before this terrifying girl attacked me with whatever strange gift she had, the monster was now feeling the pain. I felt it, but only out of the corner of my thoughts...it was like a tooth, numbed by nova cane in a dentists office; I knew it should be hurting, but somehow it just wasn't happening. Unfortunately, I also realized that if I were to seize control of my body, I would then feel that pain. So instead I waited, analyzing for the first time what I saw through my eyes without concern for controlling the monster within. The six vampires were stationary as stone, not even breathing...Bree was smiling, a small angelic smile crossing her features at my apparent unendurable pain...but what caught my eyes was that of the human girl, Bella. She actually seemed to show compassion for me! How could someone care for me when she knew that I thirsted for her blood? But then, the pain ended. And like a whipped dog, the monster fled to the darkest depths of my being, trying to hide from this terrifying girl outside. Its screams ended.

Again, Jane spoke, her voice inflectionless. "Your name?"

"Bree," I gasped. Not out of pain, but rather from the fact that I was smelling the smell of the girl...and while it hurt my throat, the mindless desire for her blood, her life, was not there! The monster had been subdued deep within me; As long as it lurked within, licking its wounds, I was free of the aweful quest for blood! But before I could continue along that vein, I saw that Jane's smile widened, and I knew was was next. I Mindlessly threw myself to the back of my mind, pushing the monster back into control just moments before the pain began again. My vocal cords shrieked again, but they weren't under my control. Oddly enough, This Bella stopped breathing. What was that? Did she actually feel for my pain? I would have to tell her that I actually felt no pain later. Perhaps, if I could keep the monster bottled up like this, I would actually be able to tell her that without risking her life, even.

Before I could begin to feel concerned for the girls well-being over not breathing, however, the bronze Adonis she was clinging to growled throught his teeth;

"She'll tell you anything you want to know," he said, "You don't have to do that."

Jane looked over, sudden emotion lighting her eyes, "Oh, I know," she grinned. Then, she turned back to me. Again, I relinquished my hiding place, and looked at the ground where I had apparently fallen. "Bree," Jane said, her voice cold again. "Is his story true? Were there twenty of you?"

I lay panting in the air saturate in the girls smell, rejoicing , but quiet. I still had to save my life, I remembered. Quickly, I spoke, "Nineteen or twenty, maybe more, I don't know!" The monster actually made me _cringe!_ I almost laughed at that. It was well and truly terrified, that dark inner part of me. Remembering the fight that had happened on the trip over, I added helpfully, "Sara and the whose name I don't know got in a fight on the way..."

"And this Victoria? Did she create you?"

"I don't know", I said, flinching again. This flinch was mine..."Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night....it was so dark, and it hurt..." I shuddered again. Even without the possibility of the monster taking over at the terrible memories, my crystal clear memories made them very uncomfortable to think about...I continued: "He didn't want us to be able to think of her. He said that our thoughts weren't safe..." And none of us had known what that could mean. Our thoughts weren't safe? What could it possibly mean? Could there be someone out there who could read our thoughts? But that was impossible, sci fi...but then again, sitting here, surrounded by vampires, one of which who could cause pain with her mind alone, the idea seemed far from far-fetched...

"Tell me about Riley," Jane continued, "Why did he bring you here?"

"Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yellow-eyes here," I continued rapidly, still attempting to be helpful. "He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours." What a relief! To be able to talk about blood without the impossible desire that had always come with it before! "He gave us her scent..." I quickly made a motion towards the Bella, trying not to scare her. "He said that we would know we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her."

For a moment, I heard an odd noise. Teeth grinding? I didn't have time to look for the source, however, as Jane replied, "It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," she said ironically. I nodded quickly, and then drew myself up into a seated position as non-threateningly as possible. "I don't know what happened. We split up, but the others never came..."I glanced for a moment at the other side of the clearing, where the terrible growling and rending noises had originated. I shuddered for a moment...i remembered that I still didn't know what had caused that. Whatever it had been, it was at least as powerful as these six awesomely powerful vampires. A moment later, I continued, "And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces." I shuddered again...they had never been real friends, but to see how quickly and effortlessly they had been destroyed had been terrifying. "I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one ---" I glanced at him. Carlisle, I reminded myself, "said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, little one," Jane murmured, her voice strangely gentle. Having seen what her happiness entailed, this strange gentleness instinctively put me on my guard. What did she mean, it wasn't his gift to offer? "Broken rules demand a consequence." I looked at her again, not understanding what she meant. But Jane looked away, glancing at Carlisle; "Are you sure you got all of them? The other half that split off?"

Carlisle's face was very smooth as her responded; "We split up, too."

I understood immediately. The growling that had destroyed half of us was a secret. Well, I wasn't going to tell on them and risk their wrath. Then, Jane smiled a little bit, not the same smile she had had earlier when she had been tormenting me.

"I can't deny that I'm impressed." The three behind her spoke for the first time, murmuring their agreement, and she continued, "I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact. Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?" Her eyes rested on the Bella for a short moment, and her face tightened fractionally. I watched as she shivered slightly, the first sign of fear she had displayed. The bronze haired vampire Bella was clinging to spoke, his face impassive;

"Victoria held a grudge against Bella," he said quietly.

And Jane laughed-actually laughed! It ran like a river of glass, sparkling across the meadow. "This one seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind," she said, smiling directly at the human. And I recognized this smile; It was the smile she had worn when she tormented the monster inside me. I stiffened, waiting for the girl to collapse in torment. And apparently, I wasn't the only one; the bronze haired Adonis she clung to stiffened as well, now glaring at Jane.

"Would you please not do that?" he asked in a tight voice.

"No harm done, apparently," she laughed, lightly. I didn't understand. Was the girl immune to her power? I wondered how that could be possible; A human wouldn't have a monster inside her to use as a shield. As Jane turned away, the human shivered again, but I saw the tiniest smile light up the corners of her eyes. She was pleased, just a tiny bit.

"Well, it appears that there's not much left for us to do. Odd," She said, the deadness finding its way back into her voice again. "We're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds it would have been entertaining to watch."

"Yes," the bronze haired one said, "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here." There was something I didn't understand going on here; His voice was oddly sharp, and he was focusing curiously hard on her, as if he was listening for something that couldn't be heard with his ears. Jane merely met his gaze with her dead eyes, uncaring.

"Yes. Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?"

The bronze one nodded to himself. Apparently some question of his had been answered, though I had no clue what I could have been.

Then, Jane looked over at me, her eyes completely bored. "Felix?" she drawled, slowly. One of the cloaked figures behind began to draw foreward, a grin growing on his face, when the bronze one again interrupted. "Wait," He said, staring urgently at Carlisle, "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

Damn straight I didn't. I hadn't had an idea what I had been doing since the day I had woken to this life.

"Of course," Carlisle responded. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

Jane's expression was torn between amusement and disbelief.

"We don't make exceptions," She said. "And we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me..." she looked over at Bella, and she smiled a wide smile, with just a trace of menace In it. "Caius will be _so_ interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

She was going to become a vampire!? And she didn't even seem worried at the prospect!?

Then, the tiniest of the six spoke for the first time, the tiny black haired girl I had attempted to attack, just an hour ago. "The date is set. Perhaps we'll come to visit in a few months."

Jane's smile faded, and she shrugged as if she didn't care. It was fairly transparent that she _did_, in fact, care quite a bit. Nonetheless, faster than a human eye could see, she had reverted back to her dead appearance. Bored sounding again, she said, "Take care of that, Felix. I want to go home."

And she nodded towards me. Me. What was going on? What sort of punishment were they going to enact on me? And then I heard the bronze one whisper quietly into the ear of the human Bella, "Don't watch..." And she buried her face into his shoulder. And that was when I realized what was coming for me. Too late to respond. Too late to do anything, but _PUSH_, with all my might, at the very boundaries of my mind. But it was too little, too late. I didn't know enough...I couldn't escape. And then the one named felix closed his teeth around my neck. And all was dark.

_Oooh, cliffhanger! People on this site love those, it seems. Its also amazing how much effort it is to write this, even with the book to help with large portions of it. Just so everyone understands..._

_Large parts of this chapter were taken from Stephanie Meyer's Eclipse. Everything that came from that book is fully hers, and I thank he very deeply for letting me use it, even though she doesn't know I'm using it! ^.^_

_Anyway, thank you very much, steph._

_As for how the story is concerned, to ease the tension a little bit, I am NOT killing Bree of permanently here. If you like gothic stories like that, you can stop here...if you want some nice, if convoluted, stuff going on later in the story, wait for the next chapter! I'll be pulling a sort of "Run, Lola, Run" stunt in the very beginning of the next chapter, look it up on Wikipedia if you wanna know what I'm talking about._

_All reviews are HIGHLY appreciated. They keep me going, if I had no reviews, I would have quit much earlier. Now at over 6000 words! I'm looking to get to more than 10x that before the story ends, however. Hopefully._

_A very special thank you to _manualice, _you have been the only one to review as of this point, and I thank you deeply. Each one is worth a thousand pieces of gold to me. Despite their short length ^.^_

_Anyway, thank you again for reading, I will get started on the next chapter...tomorrow, maybe. Good Night, and Good Luck._

_~D_o_d_


	4. Prelude: Heaven or Hell?

_This is a strange chapter. Go Figure. That's probably because the main character happens to be dead...but I digress. This is more of an intermediary in the story, you don't even have to read it if you don't want to, as it has little effect on the story itself. If you don't like how it goes, just pretend its not part of the story. Chapter 5 will be coming soon!_

I was confused. That's really an understatement, I suppose, but it's the best way to get my point across. A moment ago, I had gone from battle, to safety, and then, almost faster than I could have realized, to this. What I supposed was death.

It was strange...It was black. Darker than the darkest night.

...it wasn't at all like what I'd imagined it to be.

It wasn't the cold black of a cave; it was more the warm black of being hidden under a thick blanket from a storm. It was as if a warm cloth was covering my senses. An eternity of blankets enshrouded me in the darkness. I could see nothing, feel nothing...but somehow I could feel them, like the ones I had once hidden in at my grandma's house. I stared out curiously at the blackness.

And then, suddenly, I saw it; Far away, just barely in sight, a speck of light, brighter than anything I could have imagined before. And with it, an odd sense of...music? Not music like you would imagine, because I think I technically had no ears at this point. More, music of the soul. Of the Mind. And more filling than anything I had ever heard. Better than a full course meal, better than thanksgiving dinner...

Throughout all of these thoughts, the speck of light had drawn closer. The music...music really isn't a good name for what it was. It sounded like joy, in liquid form. Glowing as it moved through the air... it, too, had come closer. It was filling my mind with its rich chords. And then, it could have been seconds, or decades later, it was right next to me...

I looked deep into its shimmering depths. Eternal happiness, I knew.

All I had to do was reach out and touch it. A shimmering globe of eternal happiness; Somehow I knew this, I don't know how. It was just a few feet away from me, calling me into it. I raised an arm, and slowly, so slowly, reached to touch it.

But paused, just moments away. I felt something different...A tiny rip in the joy that surrounded me. The calling of the people I had barely known. An obligation to them, I suppose; those strange vampires, who had tried to save my life. How could I know that they would be safe? And more than that, how could I deserve such a joyful eternity, if I always knew, in the back of my mind, that somewhere, someone had had to pay for my unwillingness, my weakness?

I debated it with myself for an eternal instant; _Didn't I deserve to have some happiness? My second life had been nothing but pain and suffering, misery. Didn't I deserve a little respite from all of that?_ And also, horror at the thought of returning to my body, to the terrible thirst that controlled my actions, forced my hand to hurt innocent people. But even then, the golden eyes of the good vampires flashed through my mind. They had shown me such kindness...and I was going to reward that kindness by turning my back on them? No! No, I could never do that. Leaving them there would be unforgivable. I could never rest and be happy with their deaths on my head.

Finally, I made my decision; I would return. I didn't know how, or if it was even possible, but even if I failed, I would at least know that I had tried. I must return!

As I thought these thoughts, the joy rebelled against the dedication. _Come into us_, they seemed to say; _Relax, and rejoice._

Somehow, I was able to speak, even with no vocal chords.

"No," I said, weakly. And then stronger, "No."

And then again, "No; I cannot stay here. No matter how much I want to, I have people back there who tried to save me. The least I can do is try to do the same for them. I'm leaving. I have to go back...I have to go back."

And then, faster than an eye blink, the glowing wall of liquid metal changed to dark gunmetal, solid as steel. _You have no choice. You are Ours now. You cannot leave._

"No!" I yelled. "I Cannot believe that I have no choice. I _Will_ go back. You just watch me!" And with that, I turned, and walked away.

The Wall bellowed a roar of pure Power. And...

I cant really describe what happened after that. The Skies trembled, and the earth shook. The very foundations of the world that existed within my thoughts were shaken. Everything I had even known, thought, believed, was shaken from its place. Everything was a jumble, mixed and matched like the work of a child, or perhaps a Picasso. Childish scribble or thoughtful masterpiece, but which was which?

And when, in the end of it all, despite having lost almost every conviction I had ever thought I had, I still stood firm to leave, the wall of metal tried to crush me beneath its infinite weight. And at that last moment, I closed my eyes, at peace at last. I knew that I had tried my hardest to return to them. I had fought with the embodiment of death itself, if that was what this thing was. Maybe it was God, I don't know; That whole memory is pretty damn fuzzy. But what I do remember is the words that she spoke, those words of Power. An instant-no smaller than an instant, an instant of an instant before that impossibly huge wall destroyed me forever, the word came, like thunder in the deep, so simple, so pure;

"STOP."

...

...

...For a few moments, the entire universe shuddered into stillness. And as the stillness continued, I slowly opened my eyes. The wall had halted, a hairsbreadth from my nose. And more powerfully, it had stopped its malevolent shuddering, that strange changing in its texture that had somehow signaled its change from joy to malice. Then, the words again;

"Stop...begin again...again...again..."

As those words rang through my head, only one thing was in my thoughts. I recognized that voice...the voice was...was...?

_Yay for cliffhangers! Mmhmm. Anyway, moving on down the list, remember that this is all just prequel to to ACTUAL story, the seth/bree interaction, and also some stuff with the history of the volturi. I've got some real cool ideas, so stay tuned._


	5. Prelude: Shattered

Time had forgotten what it was supposed to be doing. Or at least, that was how things seemed to me. Maybe it had just gotten drunk and was lying in an alley somewhere, upside down in a trash bin. Whatever it was, it was running backwards.

Yes, backwards. At first, I hadn't realized what was going on. A strange light faded, from my memory as it faded from my sight.

In an instant, it disappeared, and after a moment of pitch black, I was standing in a snowy field, looking across at two opposing groups of tall white figures.

Vampires, I knew instantly. I watched as a blaze became pieces of a vampire, and then that vampire reassembled itself into a working whole. And it was me. I was too far gone to even be startled by that point. Somehow I knew that I had fought with death itself, and emerged the victor. Compared to that, this seemed as ordinary as breathing. I noticed, for the first time, that the vampire that was me was beautiful. Perhaps it was because 'my' eyes were closed, so I couldn't see the blazing red that they were, but I think it was just a slightly larger understanding of how the world worked.

But then, even that was gone. Suddenly, I watched as I was back in the apartment complex, beneath Riley. "Fight Back!" I screamed at myself. But then it was gone, and I was in a darkened alley. I lay bleeding on the ground, and then was healed and walking back from a friend's house.

Things began to go faster. A flash, and it was months ago. I complained to my mother about the car she was going to get me. "How could I go to school in that?" I had asked. So, shaking her head, she had not gotten me a car at all. A choice that ended up causing my death.

Six months ago; At my friends house. We're talking about boys; I admitted my crush, but know I'll never have the guts to admit it to him.

Two years ago; Entering high school, coming home crying from the teasing I had gotten from the sophomores and juniors.

Five years ago; Begging my mommy for a pony ride for my birthday, but never getting one. Being so disappointed that I sulked for weeks afterwards.

8 years ago; So happy that I got all the pretty clothes I wanted! My mommy said I was turning into such a nice young lady.

12 years ago; Getting a coloring book on knights and castles from my cousin, who was a massive history buff. It went into the closet, never to be seen again. My Barbie doll collection covered my floor, instead.

Finally, things slowed down, and stopped. 14 years ago, near my first birthday. I looked down at my youthful self, and pondered everything that had happened. Why was I here? Why was I sent back to this particular moment? What was so important about it? I looked down, to see myself giggling, lying on the hardwood floor, happily playing with a small toy of some sort.

_What can I do?_

I stared at myself for a few more minutes.

_What can I do?_

Again, I stared down on my infant self. There wasn't really a decision to make, I realized. I had to try to change my future. Somehow, I had to change my fate, stop myself from dying so I could help those vampires. Somehow...? But, how could I do anything without being able to touch anything? I knew the rules of things like this as well as anyone; I've watched Ghost, too, y'know!

What the hell; I might as well give it a shot. So I swung my arm at the floor, only to see my hand go straight through. No real surprise there, I supposed. I had always been curious why the ghosts didn't just fall all the way through to the center of the earth...but I digress. Anxiously, I looked around; it felt as if my time was running out. I stood up, and looked around, and there It was; My mom was lying on a recliner, just a room away!

_Of course!_ I thought, _Mom was working two jobs back then, plus taking care of me. Of course she would be tired. But even with that, she always said she kept a close eye on me...I wonder if this was one of the few times she fell asleep while I was unsupervised?_

That was something to think about. One of, perhaps the ONLY time that I was left unwatched as a child. How could this be important? Kneeling down by myself, I tried speaking.

"Can you hear me?"

No result. Maybe I wasn't loud enough, I decided. Humans could hardly hear anything.

"ME, CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

A few feet away, my mom stirred for a moment, and then let out a loud snore. Sighing, I sat down next to my youthful self, and stared at me for a little while longer.

Finally, i stood up. There was nothing I could do after all, I decided. This whole weird time trip of mine must all be some sort of weird purgatory, maybe specially designed for vampires. In any case, as long as I was here, I figured I might as well enjoy my nonexistence. So, I stood up, and began to walk towards the door. As I walked, I accidentally caught my foot on a small nail that was a bit loose from the hardwood floors. Annoyed, I yanked my foot loose, and continued on..

And as I angrily wrenched my ankle away from the rusty hindrance, I heard the tiny sound of a metal nail bouncing against the wooden floors.

Time began to move like a glacier. It seemed to take forever to turn around. And finally, I saw what what had happened. I had, entirely inadvertently, changed something. There, on the floor, my infant self, played happily with its newest toy, the rusty nail.

And then everything went into fast foreward.

A young girl, not more than 2 years old, played happily on the ground, with its newest toy. But this was not a toy given from one of her loving parents or grandparents; No, this was the basest of natural toys. Simply a rusty nail. The girl giggled in wonder at the strange nail, shining in some places, the dark orange of rust in others. But in the midst of a giggle, it changed to a wail of pain. She had caught her finger on the tip of the nail, drawing a tiny speck of blood onto her pudgy finger. Only a few feet away, her mother stirred from her fitful sleep, and, shaking her head at her weakness in falling asleep, she set out to tend the young girl. Her finger was no longer bleeding mere minutes later; but the tiny cut in her conscience would never heal. She had learned that the world could be a dangerous place.

On her next birthday, she received a knights and swords coloring book. It was initially ignored, put into a bookshelf, seemingly never to be used again. But only a few months later, the book was filled with clumsy drawings. Soon enough another similar book joined it; Then another. Soon her bookshelf was filled with similar books. Soon the Brian Jaques books joined them, and then others; The Dragon Knight, the Sword of Truth, The Lord of the Rings; They all became part of her prized collection. By the time she was in school, she was reading books that were years ahead of the other students. She could always sense that her mother was slightly disappointed that she hadn't turned out as the "Perfect Lady" she had always wanted, but never a complaint did she make. How could you complain about your perfect student? Even if she was a bit strange…

But the strangest thing was none of these things; It wasn't even the fact that Bree had caused this change in herself. The strangest, most bizarre change, was what had happened on her birthday, those years ago. What had happened when she had scratched herself with that nail; the day that her personality had split down the middle, like a ripe fruit.

On that day, a new Bree had been born; A Bree not afraid of the world, not afraid to take risks, to be a bit crazy from time to time; A more dangerous Bree. It was not on that day that that personality became forefront; It took several months. But when, sitting on her bed with nothing to do over a long day, she spotted the knight coloring book for the second time, the new Bree seized control, and decided that it wouldn't be giving it back.

But was this the end of it? No, not by any means. Her mind had learned how to do something that no-one else could do. It had learned to Change itself in a fundamental way, a way that was an advantage over everyone around her, over all the similar minds near her. And, once doing this once, it did it again. And again. And again.

At 10: Scorning the pony rides that other girls my age wanted. I had been riding for two years now. Ren-Faires were my territory now. The books had not been enough for my insatiable curiosity, and soon I was visiting renaissance fairs as often as I could. I would wait till my parents were away in the waiting room, and then I would join in with the oldest of the oldsters, talking the talk and walking the walk, Drinking the (fake) mead, and, soon enough, developing as foul a mouth as the worst of them. Of course, this involved calling the others "Black hearted villains", so it would hardly get me in deep trouble with my parents.

And as soon as that had become the newest and most amazing thing for my rapidly fragmenting brain to absorb, it passed away, replaced by Medieval Reenactments! At the age of 12 I made my first kill, and from then on I attacked the subject with the same multiminded assault that I approached all other things. I had no friends outside of my reenactment buddies; Even they were slightly distant from the strange girl who tried so hard. Only the old farts were the ones that could banter with me, used to me from years of such chatter.

And yet...my parents never noticed these things. Because I had already adapted to that. At home, I surrendered myself to my original self, becoming, once again, the loving adorable Bree. Sometimes I think they may have suspected something was a little bit off with their darling Bree, but if they did, they never mentioned it. How could they complain when their baby girl was not only getting A's in school, but also rapidly moving up in the ranks at a sport(despite the slightly strange nature of the sport)?

So they cheered me on, and they drove me wherever it was I needed to go. And when I finally stabilized at about 13 personalities, at the age of 13, they were proud as ever. I reached this on the same day that I reached the illustrious Peak 100, the list of the 100 best Reen warriors in the nation! I had gone to every single instruction I could get; Under the guise of "self defense", I had gotten karate and tai chi training from my parents, who managed to scrounge up enough money to pay for it all despite everything. I had begged and pleaded with masters of every sword style I could get my hands on.

I was nearing perfection. I was certain I was the best of everyone, but even so, somehow I still thought I was one of them. I was certain of it, in fact; How could it be any other way? So the news that I wasn't, in fact, like the others, came as a shocking blow. When I read about how a murderer had managed to get a comparatively light sentence, merely by claiming that he was forced to commit the murder by an un-named inner self, I had a moment of utter confusion. The thoughts that followed cannot be accurately translated, but this is roughly what it would sound like if you were to hear it:

Bree1: That's weird. Everyone, take a look at this real quick.

Bree2-13. Alright...

Bree3: Strange

Bree7: What the hell?

Bree5: That's odd.

Bree13: *chews her gum*

Bree1: What do we think? How can this person get off of such a terrible thing just by claiming that one of him did it instead of him? Even if that was true, he should have stopped him! That's not right!

Bree3: You're right...but I don't think that's whats really so important here.

Bree8: Not important! What are you talking about? A girl died, and her murderer got off practically scot-free!

Bree3: No, what I'm saying is that they wouldn't have let him off like that if having a second self was normal. I mean, look at this! It actually describes what a "Second Personality" is! Its seems almost certain that these people don't had multiple me's.

Bree1: Wait; You're saying that normal people don't have more than one me? That would be...

Bree13: Totally lonely!

Bree1: ...yeah. Something like that. But How can we not have noticed after all this time, if we're...abnormal? How is that even possible?

Bree3: That I don't know...

Bree13: Duh! You guys told me to figure out how other people act! So I did! I figured out that other people never mention themselves, so I made sure we never did either! It seemed like a really obvious thing! I didn't want to be, like, rude...

Bree3: That makes sense, I suppose...this is...disturbing. If we're abnormal... do we really deserve all the victories we've won? All the things we've achieved?

Bree1: You're too moral. I don't care if I'm normal, I'm not giving my wins up. Not that I'm going to go showing them off all over the place or anything, but they're MINE.

Bree3: Nonetheless, we should try to figure out what, if anything, is exactly wrong with us.

Bree5: Good Idea! We wouldn't want to get hurt...

Bree10: Yeah, I think so too. We need to see a doctor, maybe.

Bree2:But how can we see a doctor without them knowing who we are, and then telling our mother and father all about what we've told them? They'd probably have us seeing a shrink all the time, wasting all our time!

Bree1: Don't worry, I have an idea. Every time we have a Reen, we have a chance to stop by a nearby hospital, in case we twisted or sprained anything during the fight. Not that it happens very often, but they have to provide it, just in case. The next Reen is in Seattle, we can go see a doctor there next time, its plenty far from home. How's that sound?

Bree9: Awesome!

Bree3: I suppose that sounds fine.

Bree2: ...

Bree12: Javohl, Herr Commandant!

Bree1: Stop talking in German, Bree. Its dumb.


	6. Let Me Show You

_The day of the ren faire…_

The day had gone perfectly. Her men had pretty much wiped out the reeneers from seattle, losing only a few of their men by the end of it. In fact, it had almost gone TOO easily; she had hardly needed to raise her sword(Perfectly duplicated out of wood, leather, and foam). Already, the people from Seattle were clamoring for a re-match. But of the whole thing, she got little satisfaction…she guessed that she wouldn't get much satisfaction out of anything until she finally answered the questions that had been running through her minds for the last few days: _Am I normal? Is it dangerous? Will it hurt my parents to know?_ And most importantly, _What should I do?_

Her parents hadn't come to the Reen today. After the first 10 or so, they started making one excuse or another, and soon she assured them that they didn't need to come unless they really wanted to. Of course, they assured her that they loved to watch, but Bree knew they were very busy these days, what with paying for…everything. And all.

So, they came to maybe 2-3 a year, and left well enough alone. She wasn't displeased; having to perform for them had always been a strain. So that was why she was at her own leisure, free to take the train home whenever she wanted to.

Despite 1's coolness towards her parents, they were still her parents, and she still loved them. No matter what, they weren't going to let anything hurt them…which is why she was here, at the clinic after the battle, something she had never done before. Claiming to have gotten a sprained ankle while chasing the fleeing enemies from Seattle, she loaded up with the rest of the people heading over to the clinic. Nobody seemed to notice that she wasn't limping.

When she arrived, a distracted receptionist pointed her towards an empty divided section of a great tent that they had set up over the front lawn of the clinic; Apparently, the number of injured had overwhelmed their normal working capacity, and they had been forced to set it all up just for them. Quietly, I walked into the section I had been directed to, and waited. Waiting was something she was very good at; No good reeneer could not be, and she had been one of the best for years now.

So while many people would fidget, and look for a magazine or something to pass the time, she just sat quietly.

It was about five minutes before anyone disturbed her; a large man, with hanging jowls and a nasty 5'oclock shadow bustled in, a stethoscope slung arrogantly over his shoulder. "So, Bret, is it? I understand you have a…" He checked his clipboard, "A broken clavicle? A nasty bunger that is, yes it is, here, let me see it-"

He hadn't left her time to even tell him that his notes were wrong before he began to walk towards her, and she was about get him to move away by shoving his clipboard into his nostril, when a call came from behind him, distracting him.

The words were strange to her ears, as she tried to listen; they had a strange sound that seemed to ring in her head. "Ah, Doctor Englebert? I'm afraid that I'm having a bit of …difficulty… with this patient, perhaps you and I could, ah, trade places?" I peeked out from behind 'Englebert', and saw another doctor, tall, with light blonde hair, who was apparently doing his best to avoid getting molested by a 16 year old girl. Inside Bree, 13 giggled with laughter at the sight. "Of course, of course," Englebert said, muttering "If only I could get them to do that to _me_…" Then he bustled out. Shifting his burden off to the other doctor and muttering a small "Thanks", he smoothed his medium length hair and calmly walked into Bree's small section, closing the screen behind him. Finally, he let out a small sigh, turned to face her, and spoke;

"Hello, Bree. I'm Doctor Cullen," he smiled warmly, not bothering to check his notepad for her name, "What's seems to be the problem today?"

O

* * *

O

I knew that the girl wasn't injured the moment I walked in. From the way she was standing, to the expression on her face, everything pointed to her not having any injury at all. More worrying, the watchful look on her face, as well as only the tiniest confliction when she saw my 'interesting' features, set all my alarms buzzing.

Most girls, and even grown women, showed at least some signs of recognition of my presence; Pupil dilation, increases in the adrenal and sweat glands, a flushing of the cheeks and clamminess in the palms; All of these were so common that they were like the sky being blue. So, if you woke up one day and the sky was neon orange, you would be reasonably distressed. For me, this was as drastic as the sky being orange, despite my inability to wake up to it. Instantly I was on my guard, a dozen scenarios running through my head; could she know about us? What would she do if she didn't know? What should I do if she knew? All these thoughts ran through my head before she had even said her first words.

_Calm down,_ I told myself, _it's probably just a social disorder of some kind. Goodness knows that these reeneers tend to have difficulty in those areas._ _Not to pass condemnation, of course…_

"Erm…I'm not hurt." The girl said. She stared at me for a moment.

"I know," I replied, thinking that her bluntness was rather strange for someone of her age. Perhaps she _did _have some sort of issue?

"I know you knew. You knew from the moment you walked in the door."

Again, she startled me into silence. Could she really be so perceptive? Or maybe…maybe she was the beginnings of another mind reader, like Edward? Such things weren't unheard of, but I had never encountered such a thing myself. Edward had been too ill for me to get any idea of his personality before the change. A human mind reader could be very interesting…

"No, I didn't read your mind," She said, "I just read your body language. Yours is a little harder to read than most, but I could still tell from the way you stood and your expression that you knew right away that I wasn't hurt. How _you_ knew that I don't know. And then you looked distressed and curious, so you were probably wondering how I knew that you knew. And then you probably started thinking I can read minds, because I'm weird, like the rest of us reenies!" I winced a little when she said almost exactly what I had been thinking mere moments before, but she smiled a small smile, "It might be true about me, actually. The weird thing, I mean. Not the mind reading." She seemed discomforted; somehow, the emotion looked wrong on her face. She didn't seem to be the type to be uncomfortable in many situations.

"What do you mean, exactly? I will of course try to help in any way I can."

"Uh…well, its hard to describe…I just started realizing it recently…"

_Oh, one of THOSE things. Possibly related to puberty? She is still rather young, sometimes these things come very late…_

"Ah, I see", I said, cutting her off, and trying to spare her embarrassment with a reassuring smile, "These things happen as we get older, and it's all part of becoming a woman-"

"No!" She cut me off, a small bit of anger, and then humor showing on her face.

"Nothing like that, I've already gone through all that…stuff. No, it's something else." Again, she paused, as if trying to judge me.

"Bree, I assure you, everything you tell me is strictly confidential."

In any case, I was interested now. When I had signed up for the volunteer clinic assistance day, I had anticipated a fairly boring day, but at least a day filled with something somewhat different. As content as I was to spend much of my time with Esme, it was a good idea to see something different from time to time, as well. But now I was curious, and I knew that I would coax as much of this girls story out of her as I could. _It's probably something fairly mundane_, I tried to convince myself. But somehow, I had an idea that it was more than that. I certainly hoped so.

Bree didn't disappoint me.

"Alright…I'll show you. Maybe you can see. When I _Change._"

And then, she _changed. _And then, I was very, very interested, but not at all in the way I had expected to be.

O

* * *

O

When I had first decided to go in to the clinic, I had only had in mind asking the doctor a few questions about the multiple personalities. Never in my wildest dreams would I have shown any ordinary doctor the Change. But this was no normal doctor; I knew that from the moment he walked in the door. It was the way he walked…the way he talked. The way he _smelled! _Everything about him told me that he was something completely different. Even the way he walked was different subtly from the way a normal person walked; I would know, I've watched hundreds, possibly thousands of people trained in various combat techniques, and none of them had the raw animal power that this man's simple walk had. He walked like a panther-No, like a leopard. Like a snow leopard, with humans as the helpless cows that it gazed down on from its unreachable heights.

It was in the way he looked at me. A normal doctor might give you a cursory glance, and see that you are, in fact, a human girl, possibly injured, etc. This doctor gave me a look that seemed to suck up my soul and hold on to it. He knew the instant he saw my level stance and the look on my face that I wasn't hurt. Nobody I had ever met before could do that, and I suspect that nobody ever will again.

He was…extraordinarily attractive, as well, I suppose; I'm not really coded that way. In fact, he was so attractive that 13 made an actual run for taking over the instant she saw his face-But I managed to keep her down. Wouldn't do to have me slobbering over him the way the girl from Seattle had been doing! I would never live it down!

But none of that was really what was important, in the end; in the end, I think it was the way he _was_. There is a difference between how you look and how you are; Just like how you can tell a prince from anyone else just by looking at them (Well, in fairy tales, anyway), I could tell that this person was inherently _good_, just by looking at him. He seemed to actually ooze compassion from every pore. If it was a trained characteristic, it was very good, but I think it was natural; He was simply born to be a doctor. Hence, the _change_.

You see, the change is what I call it when I switch personalities. Generally, number one is in control these days, but whenever I'm in the company of my parents, I let 13 have control. Occasionally during big tests, 3 would run things, and so on; each to their proper task. But in order it concede control, I had change…well, everything. And it wasn't terribly pleasant.

And I began to change…

First, like always, I found the brightest point in the room. In this case, it was the light above. I focused on it, entirely. There was light, only light; Light, light, light. And in a flash of reality, the whole room turned molten; it looked like the entire world had turned into quicksilver, everything running into itself. Everything pulsed…once, twice, three times…and then, suddenly, 13 was in control. She looked up at the doctor curiously with my eyes, but her mind. I was always amazed at how blurry her vision was; she missed so much! But that was what made her seem normal, so it had to be done.

I began to wonder at how I had ever considered myself even possibly normal.

At that point, I realized that I never had needed to come here in the first place; I already knew that I was different. But nonetheless, I had already shown him; I didn't doubt that he had seen what had happened.

"Hi, Doctor Cullen!", 13 said in her annoying singsong voice, "Uh, can I have your autograph? I really waaalallalgrphhhhhh…."

That was when I cut her off. I couldn't take it anymore.

O

* * *

O

I hadn't expected anything like this. When I had first agreed to meet this girl, I hadn't thought at all of the possibility of her being gifted; the most that usually sprung from events such as this was a sprained ankle at the least, occasionally a concussion at the most.

The moment I had walked into this room, all that had changed; abruptly, I began to consider possibilities that rarely had to enter my mind anymore, such as the possibility of discovery, but above even that was the excitement of a _new_ discovery, possibly someone that might have made a good vampire, had I been the sort of vampire who would do such a thing. Nonetheless, the possibilities drew my attention inexorably, and by the time our short conversation had ended, I was already making predictions as to what sort of power she might have, were she made a vampire.

I would never do it, of course. Call what you like, but I liked to think about it as harmless trivia to pass the time. At the very least, she was more interesting to talk to than most humans were; talking to the head doctor in this Seattle hospital would have made me physically ill, was I able to be so. My senses, enhanced by centuries of work around the ill and wounded, immediately picked up his attraction pheromones when the first of the injured girls had entered the tent today.

I didn't have much doubt as to why he persisted in his job, and his small personal asides that he kept making about me removed any doubt that might have remained. Suffice to say, If I were to return to an event such as this, it would be primarily to protect any unfortunate girls that happened to come into his greasy clutches.

All this ran through my head as I carried out my small conversation with the girl, Bree. Many vampires found the empty room in their heads disconcerting; I had found ways to use it, by filling it with my thoughts.

I found it especially ironic that she had unknowingly named her changing process the same thing that we vampires called it, when one is changed into a vampire. I guess it wasn't that difficult of a word to use, after all.

Hoever, all these thoughts deserted me immediately as I watched the girl disappear. Yes, disappear; I wont call it something that it isn't. Of course, the girl in front of me never _physically_ disappeared, she stayed almost vampirically still, staring up at the fluorescent bulb above her, but other than that very basic level…everything else changed.

Yes, everything. Her heart rate slowed, her breathing rate decreasing to match it. Her muscles relaxed slightly, reducing her already short height by precisely a 5/8ths of an inch, my eyes watching everything with wonder. And yet, all of that could have been done with simple mental exercises; even more followed. The tiny movements of her adrenal and sweat glands, only noticeable by me because of tens of thousands of hours of careful practice, abruptly both slowed, and accelerated. In response, her musculature collapsed slightly, losing its razor-sharp definition, and her face suddenly gained a slight sheen of sweat, invisible to the human eye. Her pupils contracted.

Most profound, however, was the changes in her face; her skeletal structure very slightly, but noticeably, changed, suddenly becoming more wide, more round; much of the angularity disappeared in a flash, replaced by a face that was much more immature, with none of the cold deduction that I had seen in the first Bree.

To sum it all up, I was stunned, almost beyond words. Luckily, the new Bree seemed happy to fill the silence.

"Hi, Doctor Cullen!", she sang, bouncing slightly on her heels in a way that reminded me strongly of Alice. Hopping forward with none of the grace that I had seen in the other Bree, she hopped right in front of me with none of the fear that I had come to expect.

"Uh, can I have your autograph?" she looked worried suddenly, and began to talk even faster, "I really waaalallalgrphhhhhh…."

As abruptly as it had happened the first time, the same thing happened in reverse, almost faster than even my vampiric eyes could detect. Almost. Before I had time to think anything over, the first Bree had returned, and was watching me with a guarded expression.

"So…what do you think?"

I smiled, "Bree…I think we're going to have a very interesting doctor-patient relationship." She visibly relaxed, and I suddenly realized how tense she had been. This hadn't been easy for her, coming here and showing me this.

"In fact, you're quite lucky that I happened to be in the area. Most doctors wouldn't see this as anything other than a psychological issue at the most, or as an attention-getting device at the least. I, on the other hand, have…talents, that are not available to the general public. Talents that might let me help you." I didn't know why I was giving her so many hints towards my nature, other than that, while she was completely different from us, she was 'stuck in the same boat', so to speak. If she went to an authority, they would likely just lock her up, the same as they would try to do with a vampire, should they come to know of our existence. But I digress.

"Bree, during our little conversation here, most of the other patients have been taken care of, and I'm sure that the resident doctors will be more than happy to take care of the rest." And I was willing to let him do so, now that I had taken care of any of the young women in the area…

"This hospital happens to be one that possesses an EEG reader, a machine that detects brainwaves, and I'm extremely curious to take a look at what exactly is going on up there during a…what did you call it? A change?" I knew exactly what she had called it, but a lifetime of training towards making the same small lapses of memory made by humans could not be simply turned off like a switch. Nonetheless, Bree nodded and stood from where she had sat following her second transition, waiting patiently for me to move towards the door.

"In addition to that, I would like you to tell me everything about yourself that you think might be extraordinary as we walk. Would that be all right?" I used all the doctorly charm that I could dredge up, and to my relief, she nodded shortly, and with a smile I turned and pushed through the tent flap, making my way towards the blocky hospital building several hundred feet away.

"Now, I want you to tell me everything, from the beginning…"

* * *

_Sorry for the long delay! I've been working on my Bleach fanfic, The River of Fire, to the exclusion of all else recently. If you're into bleach, take a peek at it!_

_I might or might not be updating more often, depending on what I feel like =P_

_Cheers!_

_~!g_


	7. Carlisle Makes a Donation

Carlisle was contemplative on his drive home; while the results to the batch of tests he had given Bree wouldn't be ready until his return home, his expansive mind was already full of possibilities. At the very least, he was certain that Bree's condition was extraordinary, and possibly unique, since he had never heard, even in his 400 years of life, of anyone with a condition vaguely similar to hers.

Of course, there were always the standard insane people that cropped up by the thousands each year, but somehow Bree felt different from them, not only in the full display of sanity she had appeared to display, but also in the…_presence_, that she seemed to have. She seemed to be more than a normal mortal, but not the same as a vampire, and the vague differences interested Carlisle to the point of distraction. He found, to his surprise, that he had arrived home much faster than he normally would have; in his reverie, he had absentmindedly pushed his car to its limits, returning home in just under an hour.

He shook his head at his lapse, but then smiled as he began to hear the faint chords of his son's piano playing through the trees as he finally pulled his car around the last corner and in front of his most recent, but favorite, home.

_Ah…he's playing Bella's song._

He smiled again. He didn't doubt that his son would be able to pull things together for the best; no matter what he did, he always did it for what he saw as being the best of reasons, which was one of the reasons Carlisle saw him as the best and brightest of them all.

He paused in the car after he stopped the engine, listening to the last few notes fade away, before he carefully opened the door, making sure not to damage the durable, but still breakable, upholstery, and flitted to the door and inside. Edward had already turned to face him, and smiled, an expression that filled Carlisle's chest with warmth; for so long, he hadn't been sure if his son could ever be happy again. Just to see that alleviated was enough to keep him content.

Edward face twisted into a sort of half-smile, half-frown as he read his father's thoughts, and then shook his head, turning back to the piano and began a slightly faster and less passionate song, leaving Carlisle to shake his head complacently, until his heart skipped a beat as another person, who had been working on her newest project, finally made her way down, and before him.

Even after 80 years, Esme's face alone was still enough to drive him to distraction. Delicately, she kissed him, and then leaned against him, understanding his desire to be away in the way only a marriage of 80 years could, but still grateful for his return.

"Welcome home, dear," she murmured, "How was your day?"

"Fairly normal, for the most part," he said, as he kissed the top of her head, "Mostly just the standard sprained ankles, bumps and bruises. One broken clavicle…" he trailed off.

"Would you like to do anything?" she said, looking up into his eyes, with innuendo clearly apparent, and for a moment he wanted to do nothing else but dash up to their rooms together. But 80 years of marriage also taught temperance, and he sternly reminded himself of his earlier excitement, and smiled gently at his wife.

"I'm afraid not right now, love. From how long it took you to get down here, you must have been incredibly deep into your work." He chuckled softly, "And I did have one patient that might just be extraordinary. Possibly something like Jaspers talents, or Edward's mind reading."

Esme's eyes widened, and behind him the music suddenly stopped, and he heard Edward spin around.

"Another mind reader? Are you sure? Surely you can't mean to…"

Carlisle turned and shook his head, gently disapproving, "Of course, I would never take away the life of a girl simply for the sake of curiousity, but that doesn't preclude me from inspecting her to the fullest of my ability. To answer your other question, no, I don't believe she's a mind reader, but since I knew you for only a short time before you were…changed, I can't be certain." He paused, recalling that time, so long ago. "She does seem to share some traits of your mother, however; your mother was a very dominating woman, I could tell from even talking with her for only a short while. This girl shares that…ability. But, in order to determine whether that is for the same reasons, or merely a coincidence, I need to inspect the CAT and EEG scans, which should be coming in…"he checked his watch, "About now."

He turned back and gently kissed Esme on the lips.

"Now, my dear, I won't keep you from your work any longer."

"Okay. You know where to find me if you might…need me." She smiled with just the slightest hint of passion, and then flashed her way back up the stairs to her blueprints, leaving Carlisle behind, slightly dazed as always.

_What an amazing woman…_

Behind him, Edward made a quiet *ahem*, as Carlisle's thoughts began to drift towards what might be waiting for him upstairs, and he turned back to him, smiling apologetically.

"It's nice to see you playing again, Edward. Perhaps you could play Esme's song tonight, sometime? You know how much she loves it."

He nodded, "Of course. And you...you wouldn't mind including me in any discussion of this new patient, if she might turn out to be interesting? Meeting a human mind-reader could be enlightening. It might allow me an insight into…" he trailed off, and Carlisle chuckled.

"Still trying to find a way into Bella's mind, Edward?" he nodded, "Yes, I don't see why not, but I should she turn out to be special, I will need to ask her if you might be allowed to be present at our next meeting."

Edward nodded, and turned back to the piano, playing the first few notes of a song that rightfully shouldn't be playable by one pianist.

Carlisle shook his head at his son's continuing attempts to get into the head of his love, he finally made his way to his study, and waited a few seconds for his computer to boot up, before watching impatiently as his e-mails loaded. Finally, the first images of a human cranium appeared on his screen, and he leaned back and began to click through them, one by one.

_Hmm…This is interesting. _

O

O

O

"As you possibly know, common knowledge is that the average human being only uses about one tenth of their total brain capacity. Of course, this is complete nonsense; while there are still small portions of the brain of the function is still unknown, the vast majority of it is well mapped, and to some extent, understood."

Carlisle paced back and forth on front of a diagram he had put up in a small borrowed office in the same Seattle clinic he had med Bree in for the first time; Bree hadn't wanted to worry her parents, and Carlisle, interested as he was, had offered to pay for her flight to Seattle in order to have a second meeting.

"A plane flight just to get to seattle?" Bree had looked at him strangely, and then had politely informed him that she was quite capable of arranging to get to Seattle on her own, thank you very much. Nonetheless, Carlisle had insisted on picking her up from the bus station, not wanting the cost of a taxi to discourage her from coming. Which lead them both to here, with Carlisle having to force himself to move at only human speed from his excitement, something that he rarely had to do, and Bree watching, impassively.

"You, however, are still significantly different from an average human," he continued, "While it's true that human's do use most of their brain at some point during an average day, the origin of that particular urban legend is the perfectly true fact that humans rarely use more of 10% of their brains _at once_. You, however…" he rubbed his eyes, even though nothing could irritate them; all part of the act. "You, are significantly different. Special."

He turned to look at her directly.

"You, it seems, are constantly using 100% of your brain at any given time; the EEG readings were so far off the charts, some of them actually reset to their base values!" he turned, a little too fast, and typed a few words, bringing up the results of her brain-scans on the screen. "See here? And here?" he pointed to several separate parts of the brain shown on the screen, "They normally don't show anything over a 100 part per thousand activity reading, but yours are showing over 900 parts per thousand! Your brain seems to be working at many times that of a normal human!"

Suddenly, his face grew thoughtful.

"In fact, some of the sections of your brain seem to be…overclocking. Similar to the fashion in which some computers can be pushed past their limits, your brain seems to be overtaxing itself. I'd like to take some more tests, if you don't mind…?" he faded off inquisitively, and Bree finally spoke for the first time.

"I see. Is it possible that this might be harmful to us in the future? In addition to this, what service would additional scans with the same equipment serve? It would seem that such a pursuit would be futile."

Carlisle looked at her for a long moment. "Would I be correct in assuming that a Bree other than One or Thirteen is in control at the moment?"

Bree nodded, a short, jerky movement. "Correct. Bree Three is currently in control of this body, I serve as the logical and mathematical focus. And my questions?"

Carlisle nodded, "I see. The first question, I honestly cannot give you an estimate until you undergo further testing, which leads to the second question…" he smiled, "This clinic received an unexpected donation of a brand new, top of the line EEG machine just a few days ago. Normally it wouldn't be in operation until an operator capable of handling it could be hired, but since I happen to have the necessary qualifications…" he held out his palms face up, with a smile on his face. "So, if you don't mind…?"

She nodded, jerkily. "This course of action seems adequate. Now, please excuse me; my muscle coordination is inferior to that of Bree One's, so I shall return control to her for the time being. Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Cullen."

In an instant, she flashed back to 1, and Carlisle watched with interest as she stood, steadily. "Shall we, Doctor Cullen?"

"Of course, right this way. Also, you may call me Carlisle, if you wish."

Bree smiled slightly. "Thank you…Carlisle."

O

_More to come, in a few days to a few weeks. Thanks for sticking around._


	8. The Fall of the Fourteen

"Not here?"

Bree peeked around her, hoping that maybe her peculiar doctor and perhaps friend might somehow appear around a corner to surprise her. Of course, he had never done anything like that before, but still, she had hoped that maybe-

"No, I'm sorry, Doctor Cullen hasn't checked in today. However, we did receive a message…" the elderly receptionist at the hospital squinted across the desk at her, "Are you…Bree?"

Bree nodded, quickly pulling out her school ID to prove herself, to which the aging man responded with a slight *harrumph*.

"Fine. If you'll wait one moment, there's a letter here for you."

Heaving himself up from his creaky chair, he meandered his way out of the room and deeper into the hospital, leaving a baffled Bree behind.

_A letter? _Bree thought, _Why would he have sent me a letter?_

Suddenly she realized to her chagrin that she had never offered her phone number, even over the lengthy conversations they had had.

"Fine friend I am," she muttered, looking shamefacedly at the floor. Somehow, she had actually come to view Doctor Cullen (or Carlisle, as he insisted she call him) as a friend. His quick witted repartees and intelligent comments made talking with him actually a pleasure, rather than a burden, unlike most conversations she had. That she had completely forgotten to give him any way other than a letter to contact her was not only shameful, it was embarrassing.

Finally, the old man hobbled back in, grumpily handing her a thick envelope, and punctuating it by sitting down in his swivel chair, spun so his back was facing her, and pointedly ignored her. Nonetheless, Bree politely said 'thank you', and hurried back to the waiting room where she carefully slit open the envelope with a small pen-knife she had been carrying with her ever since she was given it as an award during her third reenactment. Inside was a small slip of paper, and another envelope. Setting the envelope down, she curiously unfolded the paper and peered at the elegant script within. Oddly enough, it was written in a style similar to some of the medieval writing that she saw from time to time at ren faires; she smiled at what was apparently the doctor's small joke as she read the letter.

_To my good friend Bree,_

_I regret to inform you that I am unable at the present to come to Seattle in order to continue our meetings. Unfortunately, various circumstances prevent my going there; while, regretfully, I cannot tell you the nature of these circumstances, I feel that I must deliver to you this advice; avoid Seattle if at all possible. There are events taking place there which may have unfortunate circumstances for anyone who may happen to live there. I apologize for drawing you into Seattle now, my only defense being that I was unaware of events taking place there until very recently. I know that you do not desire aid, but due to these circumstances I feel I must make my apology more concrete, and as such I have included a small token of that sincerity._

_ Until next time,_

_ Carlisle Cullen_

_P.S. As to the result of your most recent tests; you need not be concerned. When it is feasible, I will contact you and we can discuss any implications herein. Once again yours, Carlisle._

Bree looked at the final words for a long moment, before reading the entire letter again, hoping that it would begin to make more sense.

'_Unfortunate Implications'? 'Implications Herein'? _ She shook her head before checking with Three to see if it made any more sense to her; unfortunately, she had no more idea than One. Instead, she set down the paper and picked up the smaller envelope. Carefully slitting it just like she had opened the first envelope, she peered inside to see several dozen bills, lying side by side, crisp and fresh.

_Huh, very nice of him to send a letter just to pay for a train and a—Are those 1000's!_

She held the envelope straight out in front of her, gazing at it with wide eyes. Almost instantly, Thirteen was in control, her eyes widening even further.

_What the…What am I supposed to do with this? If I show this to our parents, they'll flip! They'll think we're selling drugs or something!_

One wrestled control back from the panicked Thirteen, speaking soothingly. _Calm down; it's a good thing I opened the envelope without doing much damage to it, so there's an easy solution._

Carefully, she gathered up the various parts of the envelope and walked outside, heading back the way she had come. When Carlisle hadn't showed up at the train station as he had promised she had just started walking; Seattle wasn't that big of a city, and she had memorized the path the first time through, and it only took her an hour to get to the hospital. She had also spotted another building, which she rapidly headed towards now.

_I don't get it; no matter what we do, they're still going to ask—_

Thirteen paused as they came around a corner into sight of the blue building, with the words "United States Postal Service" posted boldly on the front.

_Sure they would. But if it came from an unknown benefactor…_

Bree chuckled, and rolled her eyes, _Y'know, Thirteen, you should really pay more attention when you're not in control; I was looking right at that building for an hour on the way over here._

_Oh, shush._

Bree grinned as the automatic doors to the building swished open. Walking over to a large desk that was set aside for that purpose, she carefully tore off a piece of paper and wrote 'From You-Know-Who', in the ornate, overwrought handwriting she reserved for renaissance faires, and slipped it into the envelope along with the bills, carefully sealing it afterward with glue she bought from the counter. She scribbled on the address of her home, and threw it into the delivery slot with a satisfied grin.

_There. That should give them something to think about! Now, let's get home. Carlisle said I should get out of here as soon as possible. I don't have any idea what he meant by that, but he's never lied to me yet; better to get out Seattle first, and figure it out later._

Accelerating, she jogged out of the front doors and back toward the train station.

* * *

Carlisle finished writing the note with a small flourish, and then weighed the heavy pen in his palm. Even after all the he had experienced, something as simple as a pen still made him realize the monumentality of what had changed. Something as simple as a pen had changed humanity forever, and made the process of writing significantly simpler.

He reached for water to douse the envelope; he had discovered that his venom would dissolve the glue that was used to seal an envelope. Such was life; one gift was given, the other was taken away.

"Is that truly all you are going to say?"

Carlisle turned to see Edward leaning against the doorframe.

"What more needs to be said?" he said, with a sad smile, "I can only hope that she can flee Seattle safely."

"And say nothing of the test results, while including such a large sum of money?" Edward shook his head, "From what you've told me of this girl, attempting to ignore it will only spark her interest. According to what she's said, she has many times the mental capacity of a normal human; the time it takes to discover the truth should be but a matter of moments, for her."

Carlisle nodded, slowly, "And yet, to tell her would make no difference. In a way, it is a boon that we cannot travel to Seattle at the moment."

He turned and unfolded the letter, inspecting it for a long moment, until Edward asked again, "Alice was leaving as I returned from Bella's home; did she see anything in the girl's future?"

Carlisle shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. Her future is a knot of different possibilities and choices. Like always, in the important matters, she eludes us. And unfortunately, right now we simply don't have the time to take care of one girl."

The corners of his lips turned downward, and he gazed at the letter with a pensive frown. Suddenly, he seized the pen and added a small postscript to the bottom of the letter. Sighing once again, he doused the envelope with a sense of finality, and sealed it.

"You know that she will still wonder," Edward said, walking over beside him, "She may still understand the implications, see past the lie."

Carlisle nodded, slowly, "That is a risk I have to take. For her sake, it is best if she doesn't continue to follow us right now. I can only hope that she will not."

Beside him, Edward rested his hand on his father's shoulder. Usually his father was the comforter, but now, he recognized the need, and acted upon it. Turning, his father smiled up at him, "Ah, Edward. You always know what needs to be done."

Edward accepted the compliment gracefully, and then spoke again, "Let's go. We need to get back to training."

Without another word, they both flitted through the door, to the extra training that Jasper had been giving them. It wouldn't do to be outclassed by baby werewolves, after all.

* * *

Bree peered into the dark alley without any of the fear a normal mortal might have experienced; she knew at least twenty different ways to disable a man weighing three times her weight in only a few seconds.

Also, she was certain she had heard a scream down the alley just a moment ago. The thought of running for help didn't even occur to her, already in her acting mode. In the acting she had done, the guards never made it in time, and only the hero would have time to save the damsel in distress.

Well, heroine.

Immediately, she walked down the alley, moving as quietly as she could, which was very quiet indeed; she cocked her head to the side, hearing a strange…gurgling sound? She accelerated, quickly moving towards the end of the alley.

Finally, she saw it; two figures, one slumped over the other, head lowered to the other's neck, which she realized the slurping noise was coming from. Instantly, she knew that the person was sucking the other's blood; she didn't know how she knew, it was simply instinct, guttural. She crouched slightly lower and backed away, slipping her hand inside her pocket…

"You've got an audience."

The voice startled her, and her eyes shot above her to where the noise had originated; they widened when she saw that there was someone perched _against the wall,_ gazing down at her with baleful red eyes. Then, her eyes flashed back down as the slurping stopped, and she saw even brighter red eyes, almost glowing in the twilight, looking at her.

"Take care of her," the woman above her said, uncaringly, "She's already seen too much."

Almost instantly, the eyes were before her, and she heard a faint hissing; she backed up against a wall, and brought her hand from her pocket, slamming her small knife into the chest of the…thing. She gasped as the metal broke against his skin.

Ignoring it, she slammed her fist against his solar plexus, and gasped as she felt the bones in her hand break; What was he?

She glared defiantly at him, even as his teeth drew near her throat, but at the last moment, the figure above her spoke again. "Wait."

The man froze, and then whimpered as he looked up at the other figure.

"She has potential. Nobody has ever tried to fight back before. It would be a shame to lose her."

The figure seemed to be struggling, and then broke out into a smile that shone radiantly, "I can do it! I know I can!"

There was a long pause, and then she heard words, indulgent and girlish, "Alright. But try not to kill this one. She's caught my curiosity."

A millisecond later, his teeth were at her throat.

O

* * *

O

Bree was silent in pain. After letting loose only a few whimpers, she had realized the futility of screaming, and she had almost absentmindedly dismissed the concept. No, the thing that filled her mind was not the pain itself, but the lack of logic the pain displayed. There shouldn't be pain like that in the universe; its very existence defied all logic. The human mind had no use for such pain; she should have stopped feeling it ages ago.

And yet, it persisted.

She realized in retrospect that she should never have tried to stop that mugging. She should have left the instant she realized what it was, attached to the poor person's neck.

And yet, she felt no regret. She had tried her hardest, and it wasn't her fault that she had had no chance of survival. Now all she could do was endure this pain.

Lucky for Bree, she had many different people to split the pain among.

After what she knew was several hours, one of the others finally spoke to her.

"_Bree_."

"_Yes?_" she asked, from the depths of the pain.

"_The new one has fully formed. She wants control._" Three replied.

"_She wants this?"_ One said incredulously, _"She wants this pain?"_

"_She doesn't know of it. Her mentality is very childlike."_

"_You would force this feeling on a child?"_

_She is _Other._ Not of Us. I have already agreed with us; we will all rest, and sleep, and leave the pain to the _Other,_ and thus protect our sanity. The rest of us cannot take it for much longer, even spread among the thirteen of us."_

"_And the _Other?"

"_She wants it anyway."_

One pondered it for a long moment, then nodded.

Outside, Bree began to scream.


	9. The Sleep of the Gods

Diego tossed the ball against the wall and caught it. Toss. Catch. Toss. Catch. It was so slow, he could inspect the individual hairs on the sides of the ball as it flew through the air; he had already finished counting the fibers covering the outside of the ball, and had even had enough time to recount, just to make sure he hadn't been mistaken. Three million, four hundred and twenty seven thousand, two hundred and eighty three fibers.

That had taken the first hour.

Such was life as a vampire; couldn't go outside in the daylight, couldn't sleep. It would have been better if he'd thought of anything to do over the too-long day, but unfortunately, nothing but blood filled him whenever he left the building, and he was one of the better controlled of their little army… or so he liked to think. At least he could be somewhat civilized about it; nobody had found any of _his_ kills yet.

But no amount of pride or skill could set him away from the tedium that was a day. If only he could toss the ball a little harder…he grunted as he remembered what had happened to the first ball when he had tried to do this. The holes in the wall were still there, and he never had found the ball, and on top of that he'd almost been singed as the daylight came streaming in. He had been more careful after that.

Toss the ball. Catch.

Suddenly, he cocked his head as he heard something outside the building; the crunching of gravel under feet. For an insane moment he almost leapt with joy at the thought of a change to this dull monotony, but the memory of what had happened to the last human who had visited this area quickly chilled any excitement. They still hadn't found all the pieces; the other had taken to calling it "the blood room", and staying there day in and day out; when they left, they were practically feral.

He shook his head and dragged his crazy senses back to the present; one of the many disadvantages of vampiricism, being distracted so easily. One moment you could be quietly enjoying the night, and the next you could have your teeth at a human's throat. The worst part was that you remembered every second of it…

But that didn't help him at the moment. Diego always tried to choose the worst of the crowd, the lowest scum of the small slums that surrounded Seattle, like any city. He had even saved several people from muggings and the like, fleeing afterwards for their safety, rather than his own. If he could save this poor human, he would do it. He would save them!

He smiled slightly at his determination and flitted from his room and down the hall, stopping at the door that led to the outside, careful to position himself in a way not to be hit by the sunlight if it opened. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Go away, we don't want any visitors!" he yelled, trying to lower his voice and make it grating, like that of a human's. Outside, the person simply knocked again, and he said, louder, "I said, go away!"

Suddenly, the door was blasted off its hinges and flew halfway down the hall, and Diego stared wide-eyed at the person that stood there in the bright sunlight.

"Damn it, Diego! Don't go all goody two-shoes on me; I was trying not to get any blood on the door like…like Riley told us to!"

Diego continued staring at her, noticing absently that her face and hands were covered in blood, and that she was holding a huge pink parasol umbrella over her head. Finally, he managed to speak, "Well, you're certainly inconspicuous."

He glanced back at the door that was lying on the ground; a few of the others peeked out, but quickly returned to their nooks and crannies when it became apparent that a fight wasn't going to break out.

"What I'm more curious about—" Diego paused, then leaned close to her, and whispered quietly enough that only she could hear him, "What I'm curious about, is how you can walk around in the sunlight like that!"

She looked at him for a moment, then giggled, "Oh, that? Don't be silly, you actually believed all that junk?" she giggled again, "We don't burn in the sunlight…you're never going to believe this, but we actually _sparkle. _It's really pretty!"

Diego couldn't decide whether to laugh or not, but the sight of her standing there, in full sunlight other than an umbrella covering her skin, couldn't be ignored. "But," He said, curiously, "What gave you the idea to test something like that?"

She froze for a split second, and then stared at him oddly, "Of course it was only natural for that to be impossible. Even asleep, we could tell…"

Diego blinked, "What was that? Asleep?" his interest was fired.

"Yes…asleep…we are still…asleep…cannot wake up." Bree's face suddenly looked conflicted, like too many emotions were trying to crowd their way onto it at once, "Help…us…must…wake…"

Diego seized her arms and shook her slightly, "Sleep, you said something about sleep! How can I sleep! Tell me!"

Instantly, the strange expression vanished from her face, replaced by an increasingly indignant look. Bree flailed her arms to the side roughly and whined, "What are you talking about? Now they're going to make me fix the door, and it's all your fault! I'm going to tell them that you did it! And stop touching me!" she stormed past him, tossing the umbrella to the side, where it lodged in the wall. At the end of the corridor, she spun around and pointed a finger at him crossly, "And you'd better not touch me again! If you do, Riley will tear you to shreds!" Tossing her hair in the air haughtily, she turned and made her way deeper into the building.

Behind her Diego simply stared at the place where she had said those strange words. Sleep. Was it possible? Is there a way that he could…sleep? Had he just imagined the whole thing?

Slowly, carefully, he stuck his hand out into the hall, drawing closer and closer to the sparkling dust motes sitting in the sunbeams, pausing a hairsbreadth from it. Finally, he closed his eyes, and with a deep breath, thrust his arm foreward.

A few seconds later, he peeked down at it; to his astonishment, it was still there! Just like she had said, it shone as if a thousand diamonds had been implanted into his skin.

Interesting. He glanced back to the place where Bree had disappeared, and then back at his glittering hand. Then this meant that Riley had lied…and if he had lied about this, then what else he have lied about?

Interesting. He would have to be more careful, now, he knew. There were secrets here that would be dangerous to uncover; several other had gotten too near to their mysterious parent, and had conspicuously disappeared.

Interesting. Bree was, perhaps, another interesting mystery, the one that attracted him the most; sleep was as solid a commodity to vampires as gold was to humans. He would have to stay near to her from now on, take fewer risks and assure his own survival. Maybe, eventually, he could even learn to tolerate himself like this, if only he could learn to sleep again.

Interesting.

OOOO

Bree changed her clothing slowly, removing each article with the utmost care not to damage them. She had made that mistake after she had first been changed; she had tried to do it at her full vampiric speed. If she could blush about that, she would have; her clothing had practically exploded off her body. She had had her first shoplifting experience that night, stealing silently, stealthily, and stark naked.

Needless to say, she hadn't done that accidentally again. Of course, like today, when her clothes were stained to the point of no return, it came in handy…it even gave her something to do during the boring times when Riley was nearby, and she was forced to stay indoors.

Why did she have to stay indoors when Riley was around, anyway? She was Riley's favorite, after all…why would she be afraid of him? There was something about him…something…

She jumped at the sound of a knock on her door, and quickly finished changing, and flitted to the door.

"Yeah, what?" she said, crossly.

"Um…hi, it's…Diego. I just want to apologize for earlier…can I come in?"

Bree opened the door, and looked down at him, curiously. For some reason, despite the fact she didn't like him one bit…she felt a strange affinity for this boy. Why would that happen? Whenever she looked at him, she felt a strange feeling inside herself, like something was…expanding? Like something was filling up all the crannies of her strangely roomy mind.

"Uh…can I come in?" Diego glanced away uncomfortably, "I just wanted to ask you a question…"

Bree continued simply looking at him; what _was_ this sensation? It couldn't be defined, it was like a dozen people were staring at her…she felt a shiver run up and down her spine.

"…about sleeping."

Bree froze entirely, and inside, the feeling exploded like a wildfire, burning and filling herself. What was happening to her?

"What was it that you said? You need to…wake up?"

The fire consumed her, and finally, she looked down at Diego with eyes that seemed ages old.

"You are…Diego." The person said, quietly.

Diego laughed nervously, "Yeah, I'm Diego…are you alright?"

"We have…awakened."

Diego's eyes widened, "Then it was true! You really were asleep! How!"

Bree looked down at him for a long moment, an impressive feat considering she was shorter than him. Then, suddenly, her eyes darted to the side, and she spoke again, "…Riley is returning soon."

Diego seized her arm and shook her, frantically, "How do I _sleep!_"

She gazed back at him, and said, calmly, "Sleep is forever. Wakefulness is fleeting. Treasure your sanity. This is Three. There's so much room…"

Diego stared at her, nonplussed, "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, she seized his arm, "Your life isn't safe. I…she…knows Riley, he fears your sanity. Do not trust him! Run away from him, he won't…won't care about one recruit. I can't run…he's taken too much of an interest in me. He'd follow me. I have to…go back to sleep. Before he returns. Yes…back to sleep…until its time."

As abruptly as it had started, the look on Bree's face disappeared, leaving it completely blank for a brief moment. An instant later, however, it was changed to a look of rising indignation.

"What do you think you're doing!" She snapped, drawing her arms to her side, "I told you not to touch me! Get out before I kill you!"

With a strong push, she sent him flying out the door and down the hallway, smashing into the far wall with a explosion of falling paint chips.

"Don't make me say it again!" she said, stalking out of her room and pointing up at him, "Stay away from me, or Riley will kill you!"

Finally, she tossed her hair arrogantly, and spun back into her room. Outside, Diego stared after her for a long moment, pondering what she had said, before his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of feet on gravel, instantly sending him on his guard; at night like this, there would be no reason for a human to approach this building. Immediately, the words the 'other Bree' had said sprung back into his mind; "Your life isn't safe," she had said. His thoughts turned this over at accelerating speed, until it seemed like an age between each approaching footstep.

Finally, he made his decision. He would follow his advice…_and_ Bree. When the time was ripe, he would find out her secret. He would find the secret to sleep!

Before he had even finished his thought, he was leaping from the building, and out into the night.

OOOOO

"Everyone. Come."

Riley's words echoed with command, ringing quietly down the halls of the dilapidated building, and instantly sending every vampire within 100 yards in urgent persuit of his command. Seconds later, they had all assembled around him.

All…except one. He turned his head, thinking that maybe he had missed him, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't find… "Where is Diego?" he said, a touch of anger in his voice, "Didn't he get the message to stay in tonight?"

One of the girls raised her hand anxiously, "I haven't seen him since earlier today!"

Another nodded, "Yeah, he's been missing all day long."

Riley looked around darkly, "You didn't get in another fight, did you? Did someone go and ash my Lieutenant?"

Just out of his vision, Bree halfheartedly raised her hand, but then brought it back down to her lap, a confused expression in her eyes. Not seeing it, Riley continued,

"Oh well, one less vampire won't make much of a difference!" _But I will have to take care of him later…if he's not already dead…_Riley rolled his eyes, quickly moved back to his gameplan, ""To the south of here, there is a Coven of vampires controlling a town named Forks. They have the town all to themselves; it is isolated, only a few thousand humans! Imagine the possibilities!"

He himself was practically pooling at the mouth at such a dream, but Victoria had promised him much better fare, so he would wait. Let these children destroy the other coven first; Victoria had always emphasized patience, after all.

"The only thing that stands in your way is this coven of vampires; You will be able to tell who they are by their eyes, which are a strange golden color. Also, they're guarding a Human!"

Pulling the blouse from his pocket, Riley waved the scent towards them, and laughed inwardly as they immediately gained a fierce, bloodthirsty look in their eyes…staring at a blouse! He almost chuckled, but remembered that he was, after all in a room filled with hungry vampires.

"'Forks' is to the east. You will smell the vampires when you near the town; kill them, and the town is yours! And one more thing..." He smiled evilly, glaring around the room, staring into the bestial eyes, "Whoever gets to the girl first, can have her! She's real sweet, maybe I'll get her for myself!" A possessive growl ran around the room for a brief moment, before Riley relaxed from his pose and stood, chuckling, "I'll meet you as you near the town; I have some other business to attend to." Hopefully…Hopefully Victoria would be pleased? I tried my hardest!

Steeling his resolve, Riley narrowed his eyes, "Now, GO! This will be _easy_! Kill the Vampires, Drain the Girl, GO!"

Like an explosion of raw power, the army of newborns sprinted from the room, not bothering to use the doors but instead punching through walls, windows, and doors in their haste to get at the blood that they could smell already…and which Riley had carefully coated himself with under his clothing, to guarantee they were in a good bloodlust before they even left. And as a gift to Victoria, perhaps…He laughed gleefully in the cloud of falling glass and dust, watching his handiwork streak away.

Suddenly, he froze as a hand settled on his shoulder, then relaxed as he smelled the sweet fragrance that indicated his master and sire, and a high, girlish laugh joined in with his. Returning his smile to his face, he turned to face her, and gracefully kissed her hand; "Did I do okay, Victoria?" he asked, lowering his voice to the servile tone that she preferred.

"Very well," She murmured.

For a moment, Riley froze; he remembered that he hadn't, in fact, done as well as she knew yet. That bastard Diego was missing, he had to take care of him…

"Is there a problem?" Victoria nuzzled the size of his neck, purring as she leaned against him.

"N-no, nothing," he stammered, and she looked up at him, batting her eyes curiously, a small look of cunning coming into them.

"What about my hopeful protégé? The girl that tried to kill you?"

He looked at her stupidly for a moment, before he realized that she was talking about her fighting abilities, "Ah, no," he said quickly, "None of her talents seem to be oriented towards fighting…"

Victoria took a moment to put a perfect pout on her face, "Aww, and I had such high hopes for her, too!"

She looked out into space for a long moment, before her catty smile returned to her face, "Oh well. I believe I said something…about a reward?"

Riley's grin widened slightly, and willingly let himself be dragged into the now dangerously unstable building. A good thing, really; Victoria had some…interesting habits. The building probably wouldn't survive the hour.

_Thanks so much for waiting! I hope you enjoy this change of perspective!_


	10. Eyes Errant

Eyes Errant

Never before had Bree been so confused. What was happening to her? She felt so strange…

She had felt it growing in her for the past month. She hadn't been exactly sure what it was, but she had begun to feel a strange warmth, bubbling up inside herself. At first it had made her happy, as if she was friends with a dozen people. But then the eyes appeared. She felt like there were a dozen pairs of eyes fixed on her, watching her every movement with a judgmental eye. It got so bad that she could hardly eat; she could feel a deep sense of disapproval coming from inside herself every time she set her teeth at someone's neck.

Even when she went to Riley for help, it only worsened, and what he said would fix it didn't change anything at all! But one bed was just as good as another for someone who couldn't sleep. He taught her a lot, in the end. It was during one of these…sessions… that he let slip the words that somehow came together in her mind to reveal that sunlight wouldn't burn her skin.

For some reason, she never quite got around to telling him about her discovery. Every time she tried, the eyes seemed to burn into her, until she wanted to scream.

And then, one day as she came home from a kill, (sloppy, because of the eyes that never stopped) Diego had asked her a question—and the world had detonated. It had been like everything was made of liquid crystal for an infinitely long moment, and then she was…inside. Looking outside. She had been so confused and she screamed and screamed for help, but no-one responded…until suddenly the entire world shook, and she found herself staring into Diego's eyes.

More importantly, however, the Eyes were gone! _Her_ Eyes were gone! For a brief moment she was so happy that she could have kissed him…but instinct quickly took over in her surprise. She groused at him, just like the normal Bree, a Bree that never had the eyes, would have done.

Unfortunately, the feeling didn't last. Just a few minutes later, the barest hint of being watched crept back into her mind…by the time Diego returned, she was once again lying on her bed, clutching her head in purely mental pain, which she knew wouldn't fade until the fullness of her body did.

Oddly enough, however, the instant Diego knocked on her door, the pain faded; it was like a few of the eyes were distracted, and as her mind flitted over what little she knew about Diego, she simultaneously was wondering _why_ she was doing this; when had she become so analytical? All she wanted was blood in her throat and she would be happy! Sure, she had a faint twinge in her stomach when she looked at his lonely eyes, but surely that was just pity, right?

**Don't joke with yourself.**

She looked around wildly for the origin of the words, but found nothing; she jumped as the knock sounded on her door once again. Silently, she flitted to the door, and spoke a few words before opening it. Everything seemed fuzzy, distorted, like her vision was being broadcast through an ancient TV set. _What was happening to her?_

A moment later, the warmth inside her exploded…for the second time.

But this time, she wasn't quite as alone. She still felt the eyes, but this time she was _one_ of them. She had taken one of their places, while they stole her body. _What was happening to her!_

Outside, she faintly heard words being spoken, and thoughts blurrily worked their way into her befuddled brain, and left with equal blurriness. Her memories disappeared and reappeared in flashes of light, like little bolts of lightning flashed between The Eyes and her. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, as her memories were turned over one by one, she was released again, and once again instinct kicked in. She yelled—yes, yelled! At Diego…how could she have done that? She yelled at him!

And he left.

Those eyes never saw him again.

* * *

The fight was different from what she expected. It was nothing like anything she had seen in the fights that had broken out amongst their group back in Seattle. Little fights. Meaningless fights. This fight was deadly serious, she knew that the instant she entered the meadow and saw their eyes; they weren't angry eyes, or dejected eyes, they were eyes filled with only determination. Cold determination.

This information fed into her mind without conscious thought; she knew that All of her was fighting together the moment she entered the meadow. The instant she saw those eyes, The Eyes inside of her froze, disappearing with a shudder.

_The Scarred One_, the voices whispered, _Danger!_

The words were instantly confirmed when one of the boys ran straight at him with a feral roar, and almost before she even knew what was happening, he was torn into pieces and scattered across the meadow. Instantly, a replay of what had happened played before her eyes, and she saw in that moment exactly what she was up against.

A split-second later, the voices whispered urgently in her ear; _Behind you!_

Without a thought, she dropped to the ground and thrust her arm into the air, fastening her grasp around the arm that was where her neck had been a moment before. With a grunt of effort, she tossed the person across the meadow, where he—a brown haired male—crashed into a tree, sending a shower of pine needles down on his head.

Oddly enough, he began to laugh, its deep note rolling out of his mouth and across the meadow.

"Looks like you can fight, after all!"

She leveraged her arm and threw herself to the side, dodging the kick that came from the side, before she kicked off the tree, cracking it and sending it flying into the woods, and her flying across the meadow towards the small black-haired female; surely she could handle her, right?

Oddly enough, the small black haired girl didn't even turn around as she flew through the air toward her; at the last moment, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something she hadn't seen before; a moment of alarm on the Scarred male's face, and then, an instant later, she felt something hit her from the side, sending her crashing into another tree, making it fall slowly into the forest behind her.

In the silence that followed, she looked down at the battle…or ex-battle. She stared, stunned, at the broken remains of the vampiric army that had seemed so invincible. When had that happened? How…?

In a flash, she found herself surrounded by the vampires, none of them with so much as a scratch on them; she pulled back into a battle stance, ready to fight for her life. If only she could survive until the second wave arrived! If only she had some sort of weapon!

The leader took a step forward.

Where was the other wave! They should be here by now!

The leader took another step.

Suddenly, Bree's blood froze at the noises she heard in the distance; the metallic rending of vampire skin, and a quiet, victorious howl.

There was something else out there. The second wave wasn't coming.

She was doomed.

The Leader took another step, but to her astonishment, salvation came from the most unexpected corner; the scarred one reached from the leader's shoulder, "Carlisle—wait."

The leader—Carlisle?—paused to turn to the scarred one; he was looking at Bree curiously, "Don't kill her, not just yet. This one is… different from the others," he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "She's got something I only saw rarely, even in the South. A fire in her."

Carlisle glanced back at him, surprised, "It must be quite rare, if even you are surprised. This is your area of expertise; I will follow your lead." He stepped back, letting the scarred blonde take point.

With a half-grimace, Jasper said, "I'm surprised I'm saying this, but… I think we should test her."

Carlisle, surprised, twisted to look at him for a long, pensive moment before looking back at Bree, "You …could be right. That she hasn't attacked us while we've been talking is nearly proof enough. Perhaps…yes, it's possible." He laughed, "Who would have thought that our family would expand so soon? But she doesn't know what we're talking about!" he abruptly said, turning towards her apologetically, "What's your name, young one? We can let you live, if you are able. All we ask is that you stop drinking blood."

Stop drinking blood! Why would she? Blood was everything to her!

But her inner eyes drilled into her with more power than ever before, until she wanted to scream; finally she simply nodded, a swift, jerky movement. Immediately, the group of vampires relaxed. She hadn't realized how tense they had been. She forced herself to drop some of her tension as well, even managing to force her lips out of the perpetual snarl they had been forming.

"My name is—"

She almost finished her sentence when, suddenly, the tiny dark-haired female nearly fell to the ground, clutching her head, "They're coming."

Carlisle appeared next to her in a flash, instantly distracted, ""They'? The Volturi?"

The female nodded, "I see...three of them. And Jane is with them."

Carlisle nodded calmly, immediately beginning to plan, "If you can see it, then our allies will be gone by the time they arrive. Bella should be here when they arrive, to avoid any confusion—yes, come now."

Bree stared on in confusion. He seemed to be talking into empty space.

Carlisle's eyes fell on her again, "No, I doubt she will be a problem. But warn her before you arrive." As he finished talking, he noticed that the scarred blonde was also watching him incredulously, and Carlisle raised his eyebrow, "Yes, Jasper?"

The scarred one—Jasper?—shook his head, "From the way you do that, you would almost think that you can read his mind, too."

Carlisle smiled easily, "I just know him well. Right now he will be focused exclusively on keeping Bella safe; his choices are limited." He paused, and then chuckled, "But I must admit, it is probably good to disabuse him of his belief that only he is omnipotent."

Jasper simply shook his head.

* * *

While outside her mind one type of preparations took place, in Bree's mind a far more frantic argument was taking place. How could they expect her to stop drinking blood? Blood was all she had, all she cared about. Her body ached for it for every hour it was not on her lips; she needed it! Even the smells of the forest creatures nearby brought a pool of venom to her lips.

She froze as that thought flew across her mind. Was it possible? Could she just eat animals to slake her thirst? It would be crazy to think so, but she'd seen crazy before…

But she could feel the burning in her throat building once again. She needed blood, and she needed it now, regardless of where it came from.

Her body moved almost as if of its own volition; before she knew what was happening, she was a dozen feet away. Her hands seemed to work on its own as they pulled a shivering and silent rabbit from its hiding place, pulling it to her lips, her teeth breaking the skin… and she spat in disgust as the liquid inside touched her lips. It tasted like sour A1 steak sauce or something! Never mind that, then.

And just then she heard a noise from the other vampires; they had gathered at the other end of the field—and Bree jumped in fright. There was a _human_ here! How had she not smelled it! A girl, only a few years older than she had been!

The Eyes chuckled, satisfied, and she knew that somehow they had been blocking her senses; she groaned in disgust and dropped the rabbit, where it hopped into the grass, leaving a tiny trail of sour-smelling blood behind.

"What do you want with me, anyway?" she muttered, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"I'm sorry."

Bree jumped literally six feet into the air, snapping her head to the side. The black-haired one was next to her! When has she gotten there?

The Eyes giggled this time, as Bree growled in frustration, "What do you want with me?"

The black-haired one looked at her pensively; the look didn't seem to sit well on her face, for some reason. "It shouldn't be possible," She finally muttered, barely loud enough to be heard, "Rosalie would kill her if it were!" she shook her head angrily, "But…" She glanced back at Bree, again pensive.

"What's going on!" Bree demanded, "What are you talking about!"

The Dark Hair sighed, "And even though it's completely impossible, everything still keeps going." She rested her face in her hands, "Maybe I'm just going crazy, finally."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about, you know."

Through her hands, Bree saw a small smile crack the Dark-Hair's face, "Yeah, I know. And I don't have much time, and Jasper's curiosity will overcome his common sense any moment now…"

Jasper?

_The Scarred One_, The Eyes murmured, feeding the information to her instantly, along with a quick flash of the Dark Haired one standing near the Scarred…near Jasper? The Eyes nodded in satisfaction, and receded back into her head.

"The next few minutes are going to be an incredible blur to you," the Dark Haired one said, suddenly, "So you need to listen very carefully." She paused, staring off into the distance for a moment, then slowly said, "This is the part where I say… 'This is the End, Bree.'"

She glanced back to Bree's uncomprehending face, then smirked, "Oh well, you'll get it eventually."

"There is One thing you need to remember. You were once Human, Bree. Remember that!"

"What are you talking about? Wait—How do you know my name!"  
"No time to explain, they're almost here! Remember!"

With a rush of wind, the Dark Hair dashed to the group of vampires, and Bree was left standing, thoughts in turmoil.

And four cloaked figures walked out of the smoke.

* * *

The Next minutes were a blur. Words flew from one party to the other, interspersed with bursts of pain nearly as bad as when she was Changed. And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. The one named Jane turned away from the group, and gestured at Bree, "Take care of that, Felix. I want to go home."

Across the clearing, Edward murmured "Don't watch…" into Bella's ear.

And as the teeth closed, ever so slowly, around her neck, Alice whispered urgently, "_Remember!"_

In a brilliant instant, every memory of her time as a human flashed before her mind, Eyes amplifying every second of it into the ultimate form of movie. Every instant of embarrassment, of pride, of shame, or grandeur, they all flashed in front of her mind in that final instant. And with all the power and all the effort of 14 combined Bree, she _Pushed, _with all her might!—

And the teeth closed.

And everything went black.

_I opened my eyes, and saw only darkness. Darkness that was never-ending. And that was when I realized the truth;_

_I was dead. _

_Inside my mind, I screamed. _

_But it was as if a great weight was pressing down on my body, and I could not even draw breath. And I faded into the darkness._

* * *

I smelled something; a sickly sweet odor. It smelled powerful incense. It washed over my senses, and I fell back into the darkness again.

Suddenly, from the midst of the darkness, a deep sniffing noise. It drew closer, and closer, before being joined by a second noise. A heavy heartbeat. And I stared up, and ever so faintly saw the silhouette of a huge creature. Heavy panting, and warm breath washed over my face; it's eyes seemed, for a moment, to glow a malevolent red.

Without a sound, Bree fell unconscious.

And a faint howl echoed from the clearing, into the smoke-filled sky.

* * *

_And, without a comment, I resume the story after years of downtime…_


	11. A Mercedes on a Moonless Night

A dark mercedes sped down the road, lights off, engine nearly silent even in excess of 100 mph. Even if a policeman saw it coming, they wouldn't be able to see it; the dark night and cloudy skies made it nearly invisible to human eyes. And even if somehow they learned it was there, it would be gone before they could react.

Suddenly, it swerves off the highway, down an even darker dirt road, sending rocks and mud splashing against the ancient trees that border it. Only when lights become faintly visible in the distance does it finally skid to a halt, the lone occupant stepping out of the vehicle almost before the car stops. He sprints down the dark road, skidding again to a halt at the sight of the single person waiting for him.

"I came as soon as I got your call," he says, approaching quickly, but doing his best to remain unthreatening, "Is she alright? What is her condition?"

"Follow me."

Carlisle nods, and the two sprint abreast with one another, deeper into the Quilete Reservation. Glancing over at the vampire that was easily matching his pace, the dark-haired young man spoke between deep breaths, "We don't know. We found her near the battlefield. She seems to be fine, but she wouldn't wake up." he faltered a little in his steps, and had to jump to the right to avoid running into a tree.

"But something happened," Carlisle filled in, and Jacob grunted in affirmation.

"One of the elders put something under her nose. It was supposed to just wake her up, but... She started to convulse; she almost broke a window before we got her under control, and even then, it took three of us to hold her down!" Carlisle saw him shaking his head in faint admiration. "That's when one of us," Carlisle couldn't help noticing a frown suddenly appear on his face, "Decided to call you."

"Seth."

Jacob grunted in annoyance as he nodded, "We're here."

* * *

"Hold her steady! If she keeps thrashing like that, she'll hurt herself!."

On the table, Bree thrashed wildly, her eyes rolling back into her head as Carlisle approached. Finally, slowly, she relaxed, collapsing onto the table, muscles and eyelids still twitching faintly, muttering faintly, too quiet to hear.

Carlisle sighed and drew back, then turned to Jacob again, rattling off a chain of questions, "How did she get here? What was she doing? What happened?" He looked down at her pensively, and muttered, "…What could she have been doing?"

Jacob looked at him sharply, "You act as if you know her. We should ask you the same questions! What exactly _is_ going on?"

Carlisle made his way back to the table, checking the girls pulse, looking down introspectively. "I only wish I knew." With a sigh, he turned back to the tall werewolf, "Yes, I know her. She is a patient of mine. But what she could have been doing there?" he shook his head, "I don't know, but I intend to find out. Where exactly did you find her?"

"You'll have to ask Seth about that," said Jacob, gesturing towards the back room, "He found her. He was the only one on wolf form at the time, so nobody else knew about it until he walked in with her in his arms. We were a little busy after that."

Carlisle nodded gratefully, turning towards the back room, but paused as Jacob called his name;

"Carlisle—this girl...she's not normal. These aren't the normal men you might be used to from a hospital; they're fully grown men of the pack. And it took three of them to hold her down. Is it possible she's been…? Could it be starting already?"

Carlisle sighed, and turned back, "Been bitten? Assuming she was close to the battleground, one would think that it would be very probable. And you know as well as I do that the smell of a vampire is all over her. But…there is no taint to her blood. She smells _human_, I can smell that more and more the longer I linger here." He rubbed his eyes, an act he had maintained for so long it had become natural, "And even if she were infected, she wouldn't be able to do much more than scream for the next few days. No, she's no vampire."

He walked back to the table, and looked down curiously, "She is human."

* * *

"What's her name?"

Carlisle glanced up from his patient, then smiled, "Bree. She was one of my patients in Seattle, before..." he paused, searching for the right word, "Before everything started," he finally said.

He watched Seth for a long moment, then returned to inspecting his patient, "I am, and no doubt she is, very grateful that you found her. If you hadn't been there, who knows what might have happened before someone stumbled upon her?"

Seth cocked his head to the side and smiled faintly, "Alice?"

Carlisle blinked, then smiled, "Ah, yes, sometimes I forget how well acquainted you are with my family. A good thing for the both of us, it seems."

Seth sighed, "The others don't think so."

Carlisle straightened, resting his hand on Seth's shoulder, "They might not now, but with hard, honest work, maybe one day they will. When that day comes, I'm certain that you'll be at the heart of it. Maybe one day, we can work together without treaties and threats of violence."

Seth smiled at the thought, and Carlisle stepped back, "However, I feel that my welcome has begun to run out. I should go."

"Thanks for coming," Seth said, awkwardly, "I didn't know what the others would do when I called you, but she needed your help. The elders…" he faded, and Carlisle smiled,

"You did the right thing. If she hadn't been sedated when she was, she might have hurt herself. Or someone else." He glanced down at her face, still slightly tense even at rest, "She's different from the rest. Take care of her."

Seth nodded, and walked over to her as Carlisle finished packing his instruments at superhuman speed.

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

Carlisle shook his head decisively, "No. As far as I can tell, her body is in perfectly good condition. There is no swelling other than where she's been held down, and her immune system is operating perfectly normally…for her. At this point, there is little we can do but wait."

Seth nodded, "Thanks again for coming, Dr. Cullen."

Carlisle turned just before the door, "Remember, Seth—Call me Carlisle." With a final smile, he walked out the door.

* * *

"How is she?"

Carlisle turned to see Sam Uley approach, a light jacket thrown over his bare chest, hair still ruffled from Shifting, "More importantly, did she see anything?"

Carlisle slowly shook his head, "I don't know. The sedative I gave her was much stronger than I would normally administer; however, her body has a very rapid response time, and she will only sleep for another four to six hours. From the drugs, at least; Should she fall into a natural sleep, as I hope she will, it could last for far longer. Simply let her rest, and whatever this is should pass fairly quickly."

"Stop avoiding the question. You know that we can't let her go. Not until we're certain she hasn't seen anything. We can't risk letting your 'Volturi' know of our presence here."

Carlisle sighed, turning to look at the small village the Quilete Indians supported. "I was aware of that from the instant I received Seth's call. The instant he mentioned how many people it took to hold her down, my intuition told me that it must have been Bree; I asked Alice if she could see anything."

Sam frowned, "But she couldn't."

"Oddly, you're wrong," Carlisle said, eyebrows pinching together, "But what she _did_ see made even less sense than if she had seen nothing at all. Everything surrounding this girl is a wash of possible futures and outcomes. The strangest part is that some of her visions involve werewolves, and…something else."

Sam's eyes narrowed, "That's impossible. She can't see us."

Carlisle held his hands up placatingly, "I do not know. Vampiric powers are not always set in stone, and even I know little about the way our transformation and abilities function."

Sam shook his head with a frown, "Perhaps it would be best if you left now. We'll make sure the girl is taken care of."

"Of course," Carlisle said with a nod, "Should you need my assistance, I would be happy to come at any hour; If I'm not available, Edward could-"

"That won't be necessary." Sam's eyes were cold, "Despite this little breach, our half of the Treaty still holds strong. Will you honor it?"

"Very well. One final word of warning about Bree-"

"Dr. Cullen. I think that you should leave. Now." He stepped forward, staring down at the doctor, who looked up impassively. Finally, he nodded,

"Very well. I will call to check up on her soon."

Sam nodded shortly, and Carlisle turned and quickly disappeared into the forest.

Behind him, Sam's thoughts flew quickly. If the future-seeing bloodsucker was able to see them, they'd have lost one of their hugest advantages in the event of a fight, an advantage they'd only known of for a few weeks. On the other hand, she apparently couldn't see what was happening…at least not yet. They had to make a decision about this, and it had to be made soon.

He strode back inside the building, noting the girl, and then walking into the next room, where the rest of the pack had gathered after the doctor had left. He was pleased to note that Seth was not being excluded, even after he had been so reckless as to call one of the bloodsuckers here; he would have to remind him of where his loyalties lay, later…but for the moment, the pack needed to stick together.

"We're having a pack meeting," Sam said, voice pitched with a tone of command, "Jared; alert the elders. Tell them to meet us at the beach fire-ring. Paul," he paused, wincing a tiny bit internally, then sighed, "Go find Leah. She's probably hiding out at the Clearwater house. Seth…follow me. We need to talk."

"What about Bree?" Seth said, a trace of stubbornness showing in his face.

Sam paused, then sighed again, "What about her?"

"We can't just leave her on the table like that. What if someone stops by? Dr. Cullen," He ignored the frown that name drew on his face, "Said that she'll be out for six hours. What if someone comes in and sees her like that?"

Sam frowned, but he knew he was right. If someone found her, there would be questions, and the last thing they needed now was exposure. "Alright, fine. If you're so worried about her, then how about she stays at your house?"

Seth's eyes went wide, "What?" He said, intelligently.

Paul cut him off with a loud laugh, "She's moving in already! Nice work, Seth! I never knew you had it in you!" He stood, still laughing, "I'm already stopping by, so I'll just take her over with me when I go. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe." With another laugh, he was through the door and gone, leaving a very confused Seth behind.

Sam simply nodded, "Excellent. Let's move."

And on the word of the Alpha, the Wolves moved.


	12. Cottonballs

_...where are we?_

…

…_what's going on?_

…

…_Why can't I remember?_

…

…_It hurts._

…_I can't remember._

…_I need to wake up._

_I need to wake up._

_**I Need to wake up.**_

_**I NEED TO WAKE UP.**_

_They're coming for me._

_**WAKE UP.**_

_They're getting closer._

_**WAKE UP.**_

_Teeth! They're…so sharp. So… impossibly sharp. They burn._

_**WAKE UP!**_

_Move, dammit. Move. Move. Move. **Move!**_

_**WAKE UP!**_

_They'll get me if I don't move! Move, dammit! Move! Move! Move…_

_**But you can't escape.**_

…_who was that?_

_**I've always been here, Bree. **_

_Who are you?_

_**You already know the answer to that, Bree.**_

And she knew. Of course, that was right. That was how it should be. This Presence was really…

…_what's happening to me?_

_**You're fading, Bree. The memories you have are too strong to be carried by a human mind, even yours. The colors, the sensations…they're too much. You're dying.**_

…_I don't want to die._

…

_Help me._

…_**I cannot.**_

Bree felt despair, as the darkness began to cover her senses.

_**But there is one who can.**_

Suddenly, a spark appeared in the darkness.

_**You see it, don't you? Reach out to it. It's your only hope.**_

_But…how?_

_**Don't think, Bree; act! Remember!**_

Bree stretched herself out, stretching tenuously towards the faint light.

_**Remember, Bree. Remember!**_

The words echoed with the same ones she had heard…somewhere else. Who had said that to her? All her memories were becoming more and more fuzzy. They were fading. But as they faded, her tenuous connection with the light, grew stronger. Soon, it grew from a candle to a blazing fire, shining into the darkness.

_I…I'm doing it!_

Bree felt a deep satisfaction from the presence; _**I had hoped you wouldn't fail. I must leave you now, Bree. But remember us. Remember…remember…remember…**_

And then the light became a blazing inferno; it consumed her whole, and suddenly the whole world was white.

And then she heard a voice.

"_She's coming around! She's waking up!"_

* * *

"She's coming around! She's waking up!" Seth stared down intently, watching as her eyes and mouth twitched faintly, hints of words appearing on her lips.

"Be ready to hold her steady if she goes off again like last time. Do you have the sedative the bloodsucker doctor left behind, Seth?"

"Yes. Dr Cul-Carlisle said that it should be enough."

"Great," The other werewolf said, "Let's just hope we don't have to test it. Member of the tribe or not, I'd feel bad letting him stick anything into some human's veins."

Seth just rolled his eyes. Paul had gotten a lot better lately, but his tongue was still just as bad as ever. "Just be ready to hold her down if we need to. I hope you're sure you can handle it alone; it took three of us to do it last time, and that was with Jake."

Paul flexed his muscles mockingly, "But that was without me! Don't worry, one little girl couldn't possibly be something I can't handle."

"Your funeral," Seth muttered, remember what Carlisle had said to him, "Look, she's coming around. ...maybe you should hold onto her, just in case."

Paul shrugged, moving around behind Bree to grab her arms, lightly but firmly, "Whatever, Jake said this was your show."

"Let's just hope I don't mess it up," Seth muttered...

* * *

As she slowly woke, Bree had a little bit of time to consider her situation. First off, why was she waking up so slowly? Normally it was on and off, like a switch. Secondly, why was her head so fuzzy? It felt like it was stuffed full of cotton balls. A few too many cottonballs; somehow her mind felt all messed up somehow.

Thirdly...why was she being held down? That wasn't right. That wasn't right at all. Nobody held her down. She tried pushing weakly against her restraints, and felt them tighten slightly; they were hot, like they had been resting on a stovetop until just recently. Just enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be painful. Again she tried to sit up, but once again, she felt them tighten, resisting her movements. She just wished she could _think_ clearly...

_There is a .05 second delay between the time you start to move and when the pressure begins to increase._

Bree's eyes flew open in surprise for a second, then she slammed them closed again as light barraged her senses,

_Bree Three! You're Back! _

As she thought this, she realized it was true; Bree Three had been _gone_.

_Sorry, _B3 thought weakly, _something weird is going on. It feels like my head is full of cottonballs..._

_It's okay, _B1 said quickly, _I feel the same thing. Just take a rest for a little while, and maybe see if you can find the others in here. I'll focus on getting us out of here._

Bree thought back to what she had seen in the brief moment she had had her eyes open; she was in a small room, lying on a bed. There was one person sitting in front of her, watching her; judging from his face, he was 19-20 years old. Also, she recognized the feel of her restraints; they were hands, rather than any sort of more clinical restraint.

She smiled faintly. That made things a LOT easier. Even if his reaction time was quite a bit faster than normal, he was still only human.

_0.05 seconds? ...I can work with that._

Silently, she began to plan.

* * *

Sam was making his rounds in wolf form, when suddenly he heard something. He cocked his head…and his eyes widened as he realized the direction the sounds were coming from. Seconds later he was sprinting at top speed towards the Clearwater house.

"What the hell happened here?"

Sam walked into a house still in chaos. Paul was swearing prolifically, staring at two broken fingers on his left hand, before grabbing them and wrenching them into place before they began to set wrong. The last thing they needed was another visit from the doctor. He groaned as the pain began to ease, bones knitting back together at an accelerated pace.

"Seth!" Sam barked, "What happened! Where's the girl? How did Paul's fingers get broken? Don't tell me you got in a fight and let her get away…"

Seth glanced at Paul, muttering, "To be fair, I did warn you…"

"Screw you, man," he grunted, "I don't care anymore. I'm gonna go get some ice. Talk to me in a few hours when my bones are done healing. And that girl's your problem now."

Sam glanced back and forth between the two of them. He wasn't sure whether to be furious that they were ignoring him, or stunned that Paul (Paul!) had taken that coolly and not taken Seth apart.

"Seth…" Sam began warningly.

"Sorry, Sam…we let her get away."

"_She_ did that!" His eyes widened, and looked around the room critically, "You're saying one human girl took the two of you down and managed to get away."

"Aw, hell, don't you start on me too," Paul said, stomping back in from the kitchen, "You didn't see her. One second she was lying there, out cold; the next thing I know she's up, two of my fingers were busted, and she was out the bloody window. Whole thing didn't take more than maybe 2-3 seconds! Girl's bloody insane, y'know."

Sam's glanced back at Seth, still surprised, "You mean _she_ hurt _Paul_?" Paul grinned at the implied compliment before wincing again and moving the ice on his hand, "How? She's only human!"

"She tried to get away, but Paul managed to grab her arm before she escaped completely, but before we could react she grabbed hold of his finger and just…" he winced at the memory, "She did seem surprised at how tough he was, though. She ended up kicking off the table and I think that did it, and the next thing I know she's gone and the window's broken. She's not _normal_, Sam; like Carlisle said, she's faster than a normal human."

Sam ignored the friendly way he said the bloodsucker's name; they had priorities, after all. "Alright, she's only been gone for a few minutes, and regardless of how she beat you guys, she's still a normal human, and can only move so fast; we'll catch her, even if we have to call the whole pack in on it. Paul, you stay here, shifting with broken bones is probably a bad idea."

Paul grunted and threw himself down on the couch, nursing his hand as he flipped the TV on. Sam shook his head; it still amazed him how far Paul had come in just a few months. But time to think about that later. Sam started towards the door.

"Seth, follow me. And Paul; see if you can't get someone to fix that window." The last thing he needed was Leah mad at him…again.

That thought was still running through his head when he made the shift, and as it finished he froze for a split second. He didn't say a word, but he didn't have to.

From miles away, he felt a bolt of pain from the lone female wolf in the pack. _Nice to see you too._

Sam grimaced in his mind; dealing with his old girlfriend was still difficult, mainly because of the guilt he knew that Emily felt over his betrayal. At least recently, things had seemed to have gotten the tiniest bit easier. For months now he had been trying to keep from sensing Leah's thoughts while they were both in wolf form, and recently, it seemed he had succeeded, to some extent. Her thoughts were shrouded in a faint fuzziness these days, and while occasional bolts of pain still made it through, for the most part they were shielded from one another.

_Leah…_

_Yeah, I got it, _She thought at him, surprising him, _Girl got away from you, huh? Paul probably underestimated her._

Sam stumbled, surprised at how clearly she had seen the situation, _…there's no need to worry, I'll catch up to her in just a few seconds. _He paused to sniff at the ground, then growled, _Dang, she's heading towards the cliffs. Even if we can't let her go home, we cannot allow her to hurt herself._

He felt a jab of bitterness from Leah, _So she can't get what she wants no matter what, huh? That's not familiar…_

Sam winced, _Leah…_

_Say, how about I take care of her?_

Sam blinked. It wasn't like Leah…

_To volunteer? Yeah. Maybe I'm just bored. Heck, you'd probably just mess it up anyways, you're no good with girls._

Sam growled, but let it slide. It wasn't entirely inaccurate. Still, she was across town, a good five minutes even at full speed; if the girl was going to be a danger to herself, they needed to do something _now._

_Well you're in luck, then,_ Leah thought, wryly, _I'm already there. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe; I promise. And _I_ don't break promises._

Before he could reply, she had shifted back.


End file.
